Multiple explosions rock northern Nigerian city

Multiple explosions and gunfire rocked the Nigerian city of Kano on Friday, with residents reporting police headquarters and two other police posts targeted and at least one wounded. The country's emergency agency confirmed several explosions, including one reported at a police office, but were unable to immediately access the area due to blocked roads. Police could not be reached. "There are so many of these heavy blasts around the town," said Abubakar Jibril, an official with the National Emergency Management Agency in Kano. "They have blocked the road." An AFP journalist heard what sounded to be some 20 explosions coming from at least two neighbourhoods in the city, the largest in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north. Smoke could also been seen coming from the areas. The loud explosions resulted in chaos, with motorcycles and cars fleeing the areas. The amount of damage or casualties was not immediately clear. "It's terrifying where we are now," one resident said. "Bombs are going off inside the police headquarters, and then shootings between police and some gunmen." Residents reported at least two other police stations appeared to be targeted. There were earlier indications that an immigration office was targeted as well but it later appeared that a police station nearby was the object of the attack. "At the moment, there is a heavy shootout between the immigration personnel and the police with the attackers, and bombs explode in between," a resident of the Marhaba area said by phone. "Now my dress is drenched in blood because I had to help carry someone shot in the shootout." Another resident said it appeared a police station in the Unguwa Uku neighbourhood was attacked. "Several explosions have occurred at the Yar Akwa police station," he said. "Everybody is running for his life. It's chaotic." Scores of bomb blasts in Nigeria's north have been blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram. President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on December 31 in parts of four states hard hit by attacks blamed on Boko Haram. Kano is not included in the state of emergency and has not been previously hit by any of the recent major attacks. Most of the attacks have occurred in the country's northeast. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer, is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south. The state of emergency has not stopped attacks, and the areas targeted have expanded outside the locations covered by the decree. The inability of Nigerian authorities to address the situation was highlighted in recent days when the alleged mastermind of a Christmas day attack outside a church that killed 44 people escaped from police custody in suspicious circumstances. Attacks specifically targeting Christians have also given rise to fears of a wider religious conflict in the country, with Christian leaders warning they will defend themselves. Some have even evoked the possibility of civil war. However, attacks blamed on Boko Haram have included a wide range of targets, including Muslims. It also claimed responsibility for the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in the capital Abuja that killed 25 people.