At least seven killed in renewed violence in Nigeria

A coordinated series of bombings and gun attacks on Friday claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least seven people in the largest city in Nigeria's Muslim north. The renewed attacks threaten to engulf the whole region in violence.

A 24-hour curfew is in place in Nigeria's northern city of Kano, after co-ordinated bomb attacks killed at least seven people. The city of more than 9 million people is home to many dominant political and religious leaders for Muslims in Nigeria.

The attacks began on Friday, following afternoon prayers as workers began to leave their offices.

A massive blast at a regional police headquarters shook cars miles away. The blast came from a suicide car bomber who drove into the regional headquarters compound and detonated his explosives. The explosion tore away the headquarters' roof and blew out the building's windows.

Three blasts struck other police station around the city and gunfire also echoed through the streets.

A separate blast also struck the local headquarters of the State Security Service, Nigeria's secret police, witnesses and state-run television said.

The militant Islamist group Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden" claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The group has been behind a recent campaign of violence in the mainly Muslim north. Meanwhile, organisers of a controversial civil activists' mass rally set for Saturday in the commercial capital Lagos called off the event in light of the attacks.

Organisers of the demonstration against government corruption and the military's presence in Lagos say they fear their protest could be infiltrated by militants sent to cause mayhem and cost more lives.