Nairobi/Abuja, July 29 (DPA) Nigerian security forces Wednesday laid siege to the compound of an Islamist leader whose followers have been battling police for four days.
Over 150 people have died since Sunday, when Boko Haram, a group often called as the Nigerian Taliban, launched a series of attacks on police stations across northern Nigeria.
The army shelled the compound of Mohammed Yusuf, the group’s leader, in the town of Maiduguri, Borno state, Tuesday. Gunfire was exchanged throughout the night and into Wednesday morning.
Colonel Ben Ahanotu, the officer in charge of the Nigerian Army’s assault on Yusu’s home, told the BBC that at least 250 militants were protecting the compound, which serves as Boko Haram’s base.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with around 150 million inhabitants, is split between the Muslim north and the Christian and animist south.
Boko Haram, which was formed in 2002, wants to impose Islamic law (Sharia), across the country and is also opposed to Western education.
The group launched its first attack on a police station in Bauchi, sending around 70 men armed with automatic weapons and grenades into the fray.
The police repelled the initial attack, killing dozens of militants, but the violence then spread.
Over 100 people were reported killed in Maiduguri and in Potiskum, Yobe state, militants set fire to a police station and murdered one of the firefighters attempting to tackle the blaze.
Roadblocks have been erected and overnight curfews implemented in the towns worst hit by the clashes.
President Umaru Yar’Adua, who is himself a Muslim from the north, has ordered security forces to take whatever action is necessary to restore order.
Police, who claim to have arrested almost 200 fighters, were searching homes and forests for militants around the affected towns.
Analysts say that while the group has caused chaos in the last few days, it is too early to say if it will emerge as a major threat to security in the impoverished north.
“Although this seemed spontaneous, it seemed that group had been building for a while and this was them testing their strength,” Elizabeth Donnelly, Africa Programme Manager at London-based think tank Chatham House, told DPA.
“At the moment they appear to be more of a fringe group than a real threat,” she added.
The north has been gradually implementing stricter Islamic law, which has led to trouble with Christian groups.
Clashes in Bauchi earlier this year left five people dead and several churches and mosques were also torched.
Hundreds died in the city of Jos, the capital of Plateau State, last November when local elections degenerated into bloody clashes.
