Members of a radical Islamist sect that staged an uprising in northern Nigeria in which at least 800 people died are preparing further attacks, a top security official said on Monday.
Kano State prisons chief Lawan Abubakar said the Boko Haram sect are regrouping to attack prisons in Kano city holding 58 suspected sect members.
The 58 are facing treason charges after a recent crackdown on the group, which sparked the bloody uprising in several northern states in July.
“From security reports at our disposal, the Boko Haram sect is regrouping in Kano and members of the sect are hatching a grand plan to attack prisons in the state to free their colleagues arrested during the violence,” Abubakar told reporters.
He said the reports indicated the sect was regrouping in Gezawa village, about 30km outside Kano.
The detainees were arrested in a police raid on their hideout in Wudil, west of Kano, following a dawn attack on a police station in which three officers were wounded.
“We have reinforced security around the prisons where the Boko Haram [suspects] are being kept with more policemen and vigilante members,” Abubakar said.
However, police in Kano denied any knowledge of sect members gathering in the state.
“We are not aware of such reports and there is nothing to suggest the Boko Haram is planning any comeback. We are on top of the situation,” said Kano State police spokesperson Baba Mohammed.
Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf was killed in July after his capture in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, where most of the 800 were killed in days-long gun battles with security forces. — AFP