BAUCHI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Muslim rebels attacked Nigerian police stations in two northeastern states overnight killing at least one fireman, a day after more than 50 people died in clashes in Bauchi state, sources said on Monday.
The fireman was killed after dozens of militants demanding the adoption of Islamic sharia law set a police station ablaze in Potiskum, Yobe state, early Monday. Four police officers were also injured, sources said.
In neighbouring Borno state, rebels believed to be members of the small Islamic group Boko Haram attacked a police station in the state’s capital Maiduguri. It was not clear if there were any casualties.
The violence is not connected to unrest in the oil-producing Niger Delta in the south.
Boko Haram, a local group that wants sharia to be imposed throughout Africa’s most populous country, began its string of attacks in the northeastern city of Bauchi early Sunday in retaliation for the arrest of their leaders.
More than 50 Nigerians were killed in those clashes, prompting the Bauchi state governor to impose a night time curfew for the capital city.
Police arrested more than 100 members after Sunday’s attack on a Bauchi police station.
“Bauchi has been quiet overnight but the militants have struck in Yobe and neighbouring states,” said Garba Abubakar, a Bauchi police officer.
The Islamic group is not connected to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Nigeria’s most prominent rebel group responsible for a campaign of violence that has battered Africa’s biggest energy sector since early 2006.
SHARIA STATES
Bauchi, Yobe and Borno states are among the 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states that started a stricter enforcement of sharia in 2000 -- a decision that has alienated sizeable Christian minorities and sparked bouts of sectarian violence that killed thousands.
Nigeria is roughly equally split between Christians and Muslims, although traditional animist beliefs underpin many people’s faith.
More than 200 ethnic groups generally live peacefully side by side in the West African country, although civil war left one million people dead between 1967 and 1970 and there have been bouts of religious unrest since then.
Clashes in Bauchi in February killed at least 11 people and wounded dozens.
Last November, hundreds were killed in two days of fighting in the central city of Jos after a disputed election triggered the worst fighting between Muslim and Christian gangs in years in sub-Saharan Africa’s second biggest economy.
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