The death toll following coordinated bomb attacks and gun battles in the Nigerian city of Kano has risen to at least 162, a source at the city's main morgue has said.
A curfew was imposed on Kano in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north after it exploded into violence on Friday evening, with eight police and immigration offices or residences targeted.
The main newspaper in the north said that a purported spokesman for Islamist group Boko Haram had claimed responsibility for the violence, saying it was in response to authorities' refusal to release its members from custody.
Scores of such attacks in Nigeria's north have been blamed on Boko Haram, though Friday's would be among the group's most audacious and well-coordinated assaults.
Some 20 huge blasts could be heard in the city as a suicide bomber struck a regional police office and a car bomb rocked state police headquarters after the attacker fled and was shot dead, police sources said. |