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7 dead, 24 wounded in Nigeria suicide bomb attack

08 June 2012 21:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Seven people including a suicide bomber, two policemen and four civilians were killed on Friday in an attack on the police headquarters in Nigeria’s northeastern city Miaduguri, local police confirmed, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Bala Hassan, police commissioner of Borno State, told Xinhua that the suicide car bomber suspected of links to the West African country’s Boko Haram sect attempted to force his way into the main gate of the police headquarters in the provincial capital.

"The explosives-laden car went off while policemen prevented the bomber to enter the police headquarters," said the police chief.

He declined to give further details of the incident as efforts were being made to clear the debris and rescue the affected persons.

Rescue workers in the state also confirmed that 24 people were wounded and were being attended to.

On a separate occasion, a bomb explosion also killed a member of the dreaded Boko Haram sect on Friday morning in the state.

According to the Nigerian troop commander in the state, Col. Victor Ebhaleme, the bomber attempted to target the Joint Task Force patrol vehicle with the explosives along the highway.

"The explosives killed the bomber immediately," he said.

Friday’s attack was a second in which a suicide bomber tried to blow up the police headquarters in Miaduguri. A similar attempt was made last year by a Boko Haram member, only to be gunned down by police at the gate.

The city seen as the base of the Boko Harm militia has witnessed a series of deadly attacks in the past two years.