Weekend attacks, clashes kill 8 in north Nigeria

KANO, Nigeria (AP) -- Officials say four security officers and at least four assailants have died in two northern Nigerian cities which have seen a spate of sectarian violence.

Kano state police chief Ibrahim Idris said policemen killed four men who were attempting to bomb a mosque Sunday in the major city of Kano.

Air Commodore Sani Ahmed, a Nigerian air force official in Kano, said motorcycle-mounted gunmen also killed two air force officers Sunday.

The violence follows a Friday night clash in the northeastern city of Damaturu that left a policeman and a soldier dead.

Yobe state police spokesman Toyin Gbadagesin said police blamed members of a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram for the Damaturu attack.

He said security officers then razed a house believed to be harboring sect members.

There has been an upsurge of such clashes largely blamed on Boko Haram.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)