Kano - Arsonists
set fire to telecom masts in northern Nigeria on Wednesday, in what appeared to
be a set of coordinated attacks in the restive region, residents said.
Islamist group
Boko Haram - notorious for shootings and bomb attacks across north and central
Nigeria - has threatened to target phone companies, accusing them of
co-operating with the security services.
Residents in the
cities of Damaturu, Kano, Potiskum and the town of Bama said late on Wednesday
that gunmen had torched several phone towers before firing their weapons. No
casualties were reported.
Earlier, the
military said Boko Haram had carried out a similar attack in the north-eastern
city of Maiduguri late on Tuesday.
In Kano, Nigeria's
second city, residents said at least four phone towers were set ablaze in the
Sharada industrial area.
"There have
been explosions and repeated gunshots in this neighbourhood and the explosions
were followed by fires around four telecom masts," one of them, Yusuf
Abdullahi, said.
Similar incidents
were reported in Damaturu and Potiskum in Yobe state.
Explosions
"Explosions
erupted in some parts of the city accompanied by gunshots... The information
going around is that the telecom masts were the targets of the
explosions," said Potiskum resident Kabiru Muazu.
Lieutenant Colonel
Sagir Musa, the military spokesperson in northeastern Borno state, said that
suspected Boko Haram members had attacked several telecom towers in Maiduguri
late Tuesday.
"Some mobile
telecommunication masts were vandalised last night in different parts of
Maiduguri metropolis by some people we suspect to be members of the Boko Haram
sect," Musa said.
Residents said a
similar attack happened on Wednesday in Bama, a town about 60km from Maiduguri,
where Boko Haram is based.
The radical group
threatened to attack mobile phone operators after its purported spokesperson
was arrested in February, reportedly after his phone was tracked by the
security services.
Boko Haram is
blamed for the deaths of more than 1 400 people since 2010 in Nigeria, Africa's
most populous country and top oil producer.
The violence has
eased in recent weeks and Musa claimed the Islamists were now seeking out
softer targets amid a crackdown by the security forces.
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