Suspected Boko Haram Sponsor And Wife Killed In Kano

A police bomb disposal expert packs defused home-made bombs made from cans of soft drinks at the bomb disposal unit of the Kano State police command in Kano ... yesterday.

Security agents stormed a Boko Haram hideout at Tsamiya Boka in the beleaguered city and engaged the sect members in a gun duel, which lasted for over four hours.

The battle raged all night till about 5a.m, residents said. When all went quiet, two suspected "key" Boko Haram members lay dead. A military officer was feared dead.

The dead included a man the authorities believed to be a sponsor of the sect, Uzairu Abba Abdullahi, a textile merchant and his wife.

Terrified residents described the gunshots they heard as "music of war". 

"Let me tell you, from midnight till 5 a.m., we could not sleep. A neighbour of mine who has high blood pressure collapsed. He was revived this morning," a resident of Tsammiya Boka, who does not want his name in print, told our correspondent on the telephone.

Empty bullet shells lay strewn in a pool of blood just a few steps into the house. A man described as the killed suspect's cousin squatted near the blood. Outside, a woman said to be his aunt was sobbing.

"I was called and told that my brother and his wife had been shot. He was a simple man known to be peaceful and as far as I know, he has never been questioned by the security over any links with Boko Haram," said cousin Shehu Idris.

A car in the driveway was riddled with bullets and its windshield smashed.