Gunshots and explosions rang out early on Wednesday in Nigeria’s biggest northern city Kano, local residents said, in a region beset by violence by Islamist sect Boko Haram.
Clashes between Boko Haram gunmen and security forces have flared up several times in Kano since the sect killed 178 people in Nigeria’s second largest city last month, in its deadliest attack so far.
“We were stopped from coming out for our early morning prayers, we couldn’t leave the house. About 5am (0400 GMT) the gunshots and explosions started and they haven’t stopped,” Stephen Ahmed, a local Kano resident, told Reuters by phone.
A police spokesman declined to give comment and the army was not contactable.