Over 160 killed in Nigeria attacks, Indians among injured

Abuja, Nigeria: At least 162 people were killed and several others, including Indians injured on Saturday when militants launched a series of coordinated bomb attacks targeting police stations and the headquarters of Nigeria's secret police in the Muslim dominated northern city of Kano.

Rabiu Kwankwaso, the governor of Kano State, imposed a 24-hour curfew after the bodies, including those of several policemen, were found scattered all over the state capital, Nigeria's second-largest city, which exploded into violence since Friday.

According to a media report, a purported spokesman for Islamist group Boko Haram had claimed responsibility for the violence, saying it was in response to Nigerian authorities' refusal to release its members from custody.

Hospital sources said the death toll in the bombings and shootings that rocked Kano surged to 162 even as the country's police authorities hesitated in giving casualty figure.

A doctor at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital said dead bodies and some wounded people were brought to the hospital. According to him some of the injured persons were foreigners, including Indians who live close to the SSS headquarters.

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A hospital worker who craved for anonymity disclosed this stating that dead bodies were piling up in a mortuary at Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital in Kano.

He added that the number of the dead may increase because more bodies are being brought in from different parts of the city.

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An official of the Red Cross, Nwakpa O Nwakpa said his aid agency is still collecting the bodies of the dead and injured and taking them to emergency units of some hospitals or mortuaries.