Kano on edge as US urges Nigeria unity

Gunfire and explosions caused panic in Kano Tuesday, as Nigeria's second city still reeled from Islamist attacks that killed 185 and Washington urged the West African powerhouse to remain united. Friday's wave of attacks in Kano were the deadliest operation launched by Islamist sect Boko Haram since it launched a bloody campaign in July 2009 which Human Rights Watch said Tuesday has left close to 1,000 people dead. As the state department urged Nigeria -- Africa's top oil producer and a key source of crude for the United States -- to "stand united" in the face of growing sectarian strife, a visiting US delegation promised security assistance. One Kano resident told AFP that a large number of military and state security services operatives encircled a house suspected to be a Boko Haram hideout shortly after midnight. They opened fire and a suspect fired back resulting in a shootout lasting around four-and-half hours. A man and his wife were killed in the raid, residents said.  "They came in large numbers, some of them stayed on the main road, while others came in through the alley. They began shooting, and he fired back... This was followed by a barrage of gunfire by the security men," a neighbour Mohammed Maikubi Bala said. Relatives and a crowd of curious neighbours mingled outside before police came to search the house. It was not clear where the sound of explosions emanated from although a resident suggested there was use of heavy machine guns during the raid. "Everybody in the neighbourhood was in fear. We couldn't sleep," said a resident who lives a few houses away. Residents had feared the city was under fresh attacks just days after coordinated gun and bomb attacks on Friday killed 185 people, more than two dozen of them policemen, in Boko Haram's deadliest ever operation.  Nine attackers, at least five of them suicide bombers, died in the onslaught. Human Rights Watch said "Boko Haram's attacks show a complete and utter disregard for human life" and urged the authorities to put an end to the violent campaign. According to the New York-based rights group, Boko Haram has killed more than 935 people since the group -- whose can be loosely translated as "Western education is sin" -- launched a violent campaign in July 2009. More than 250 of those deaths came in 2012 alone. "This is a time for all Nigerians to stand united against the enemies of civility and peace," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement. She also urged the Nigerian authorities to fully investigate the attacks, including those against Christians, and hold the perpetrators accountable.  A US delegation led by William Fitzgerald, the deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, and Joseph McMillan, the principal deputy assistant secretary for defence, held security talks in the capital Abuja on Tuesday. The two sides agreed "to boost the operational capabilities of the Nigeria security services by identifying avenues that would enable them to respond appropriately to internal security challenges and other threats." They considered training, intelligence sharing and modernisation of the security services. Boko Haram which has staged a series of increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks, often targeting security agencies and lately Christians, is believed to have a number of factions with differing aims, including some with political links and a hardcore Islamist cell. Officials from Sahel states in a meeting also attended by Nigeria in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott vowed to help each other fight Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Boko Haram, amid growing speculation the two have ties.  Mali's Foreign Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga said there was a "confirmed link" between AQIM and Boko Haram. President Goodluck Jonathan vowed to beef up security as he grapples with the worst crises of his nine-month tenure -- a surge in Boko Haram attacks and mounting social discontent. A purported spokesman for Boko Haram said the attacks were in response to a refusal by the authorities to release arrested members of the group from custody.