Eight people have been killed by suspected members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, who attacked Katarko town in the outskirt of Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.

Katarko is 22 kilometres south of Damaturu and a community in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State which is the state’s stronghold of the Boko Haram insurgents.

Residents say the insurgents stormed the town around 7:30 yesterday evening and first attacked the military base in the town before having access to some houses, killing eight residents in an attack that lasted for over seven hours.

“They came here and launched an unsuccessful attack on the military base before embarking on some selective killings within the town living us with eight casualties presently being prepared for burial,” a resident told Channels Television in Damaturu.

Residents say the insurgents carried out their attack until 2:30 in the morning without further resistance.

During the violence, the insurgents blew off the Katarko Bridge linking Damaturu to their stronghold; Buni Yadi, the capital of Gujba Local Government Area. The bridge connects Yobe and neighbouring Borno and Adamawa States.

This is the first time Boko Haram militants are attacking Katarko, since the commencement of serious hostility by the insurgents in 2009.

Meanwhile, two Boko Haram suspects have been arrested in Damaturu metropolis in possession of Improvise Explosive Devises (IED) with the intention of causing havoc in the troubled North-East state.

Although authorities declined comment on the arrest, residents confirmed that the suspects were arrested at separate locations with the devises, with the first member of the sect arrested revealing the where about of his second after arrest.

In another development, there was pandemonium yesterday afternoon in Kaduna metropolis, North-West Nigeria, following an alarm over a white bag abandoned near Kontagora road, which the traders suspected to be a bomb.

The bomb scare forced traders to close their shops and start rushing home for safety.

Immediately the rumour filtered into the area, many people ran helter-skelter in order not to be caught in the web of any explosion.

However, a police anti-bomb squad that arrived at the area promptly discovered that the bag contained some waste items and not bomb.

The alarm occurred barely one hour after news of a bomb explosion in Kano filtered into the city, a situation that promptly triggered fear of a coordinated attack by terrorists in the two cities.

A suicide bomb had gone off about 10am at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mega Filling Station at Hotoro area along Maiduguri Road, Kano.

The suicide bomber, suspected to be a female, had slipped into the crowd of citizens buying kerosene at the station before detonating the explosives. The suicide bomber and three others have been confirmed dead, eight persons are injured and rushed to the hospital.

•Based on Channels TV reports. Photo shows Boko haram insurgents.

Update news