Register Login African News Nigeria rocked by multiple attacks in north and south

At least 40 people have been killed in mutiple attacks in northern and southern Nigeria. Gunfire and explosions which rocked an opposition rally in Okrika, in the oil-rich region of Rivers State, left one policeman dead and several others wounded, while a reporter covering the event was stabbed. Elsewhere on Tuesday, at least 36 people died in an attack in Biu, in Borno State, when explosions ripped through a joint civilian and military checkpoint. In Potiskum, in the northeast state of Yobe, three people died in a suicide blast. Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from Abuja, said that the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) had been holding a rally in Okrika when the attack happened.


 Five explosions and a burst of gunfire hit the rally of Dakuku Peterside, the APC candidate for governor, with his supporters running for safety. "Five police officers were shot. One of them is dead and four are lying in critical condition at this hospital," Peterside said. Peterside and a source at the private Channels television network said its reporter at the scene, Charles Erukaa, had also been stabbed and was being taken to a hospital. Several people were also wounded, witnesses and the APC incumbant governor of the state, Rotimi Amaechi said.

 The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear but caused chaos just as the campaign rally was set to start, witnesses said. Political tension has raged in Rivers since outgoing governor Rotimi Amaechi defected to the APC from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2013. The National Human Rights Commission last week said 58 people had been killed in political violence in the run up to Nigeria's polls.

The commission pointed to Rivers State in the Niger Delta as a flashpoint area for potential unrest, in part because of the bitter political party rivalry. Suicide attack In the northeast Nigerian state of Yobe's Potiskum three people were killed on Tuesday in a suicide blast. A bomber blew himself up inside al-Amir restaurant, a popular chain in northern Nigeria, at about 4.40pm (15:40 GMT), killing the manager and a steward, officials told the AFP news agency. Thirteen staff and customers were seriously injured. "We evacuated three dead bodies which included the bomber and two victims to the hospital," said a police officer involved in the rescue operation.

Another rescue worker and a nurse at the Potiskum General Hospital confirmed the toll. Meanwhile, the death toll increased to 36 people after an attack in neighbouring Borno State, near the town of Biu on Tuesday, where at least three explosions struck a joint civilian and military checkpoint witnesses and vigilantes told the AFP news agency. "Now we have 36 dead and over 20 injured from the blast," a medical source at Biu General Hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Most of the victims were child vendors and beggars that usually crowd the checkpoint to sell wares and beg for alms," the source added. Gana Sheriff, a vigilante, said the attack happened at about 1pm (12:00 GMT) at Yamarkumi village, four kilometres from Biu in Borno state. "It was a suicide attack by three men in a motorised tricycle," Sheriff said. "It was later that we realised the attackers came in two rickshaws.

The one ahead had three people inside who opened fire and detonated three explosives. "The second rickshaw immediately turned after the explosions but was pursued into the bush by soldiers and local hunters." Biu is a local government area to the south of Borno, which has been the site of previous attacks by the armed group Boko Haram.

The cause of the attack was as yet unclear. Nigeriens demonstrate Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people marched through Niger's capital Niamey on Tuesday to support the country's military following a series of Boko Haram attacks along the border with Nigeria. Nigerian soldiers recaptured two towns on Monday as US and regional troops began an assault in neighbouring Chad in a growing international campaign.

 Nigeria's neighbours, Chad, Cameroon and Niger have joined a multinational force to target the armed group, whom the Nigerian military has been struggling to contain, after it began cross-border attacks. Boko Haram was cited as a reason for postponing Nigeria's election by six weeks which had been due to take place on Saturday. Source: Agencies