Police beef up security in Kano after report of attack on zonal headquarters

Security has been ramped up around strategic locations in Kano following reports of gunshots around the Zone 1 headquarters of the police in the state.

Although the police have denied that gunshots were fired at the zonal headquarters situated along BUK road, it was however observed by late Friday evening that motorists have been restricted from the lane where the headquarters is situated.

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It was also observed that the access road to the Government House on State Road has also been blocked, with motorist now having to use alternative routes.

Similarly, locations like the Mobile Police Squadron on Maiduguri Road in Hotoro area of the state metropolis have also seen heavy deployment of security operatives with access roads to these places also blocked from motorists.

A top security official in the state, who asked not to be named, told Daily Trust that the reason why the roads were condoned off and security agents were seen at different location was as a result of the “incident” along BUK road.

The source said the joint security team in the state is working on the intelligence that the incident may not be unconnected to suspected Boko Haram terrorists, insisting however that “there is no course for alarm”.

Reports had filtered in early Friday afternoon that gunmen in three vehicles opened fire around 12:30pm at the police zonal headquarters and fled the scene but police sources had countered that there was no attack or attempted attack on the police building but that it was a case of reported stolen vehicles that a tactical unit of the police were on the chase.

While some persons along the road had said they heard gunshots, none could however confirm if it was fired towards the police building but the Friday prayers at the Juma’at Mosque located within the zone went ahead at some minutes after 1pm.

While the spokesman of the zonal headquarters had promised to clarify the situation, he has however not availed Daily Trust with the said statement as of the time of filing this report. Several calls to him as also rang out.