AFP

KANO (NIGERIA) NIGERIAN troops killed a suspected Boko Haram militant on Tuesday during a predawn raid in the city of Kano over weekend attacks against church services that left around 20 people dead.

A military task force stormed a two-bedroom bungalow in the troubled northern city’s Bubbugaje district, two days after attackers armed with bombs and guns sowed carnage among churchgoers on Kano’s Bayero university campus.

Security sources said that one suspected Islamist was killed when a shootout erupted during the raid while another managed to escape.

Brigadier-General Iliasu Isa Abba said the raid was part of the search for the perpetrators of Sunday’s attacks, the latest violence against Christians blamed on Boko Haram’s Islamists.

“This operation has links with what happened in Bayero university. The same set of people are part of the gang,” he said.

Soldiers at the scene of the raid also arrested three women, including a mother and a three-year-old girl, while security agents cordoned off the building. Three armoured carriers and a bulldozer were stationed in the area.

Items recovered included improvised explosive devices, an assault rifle, ammunition, knives, two laptops, a motorcycle and fertilisers.

A bank deposit slip and a leaflet purportedly containing a message by the Boko Haram leader were also found in the building.

One of the detained women said she was married to a member of the group.

“I was married to my husband a year ago. We met in Wudil. I only came to know that he was a member of Boko Haram recently. He managed to escape during the raid this morning,” the 18-year-old woman said.

A spokesman for the soldiers that carried out the raid said that the fleeing suspect had been arrested.

“We have arrested the suspect that fled. He was fished out around that area after using a woman as shield,” Lieutenant Iweha Ikedichi said.

Top security chiefs in Kano, including the military commander, police commissioner and head of the state security service, visited the scene and ordered that the partly damaged building be pulled down.

They also vowed further clampdown on Islamists as well as stiffer sanctions against property owners who rent out to unknown individuals.