Just before 7:00 pm, at the start of the nighttime curfew imposed after the 20 January “Kano Blitz”, a group of gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram militants attacked the Rijiyar Zaki police station in the Ungogo Local Government Area of Kano city. The assailants arrived on motorcycles and in an all-terrain van, opened fire on the police station for several minutes, and shouted “Allahu Akbar”. Two policemen were feared dead, lying in pools of blood. The attack was brief, lasting no more than five minutes.
27 Jan 2012 · Mandawari neighbourhood, Rijiyar Zaki (near BUK new campus), Ungogo, Kano
Deaths
2
Injured
0
Kidnapped
0
Total casualties
2
Perpetrators
Boko Haram
Response
The attack occurred just before the start of a nighttime curfew that had been imposed after the 20 January attacks. Military forces cordoned off the area around the provincial capital. The Kano State Police spokesman confirmed that assailants escaped on their motorbikes.
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Boko Haram’s strategy to weaken police presence, destroy state infrastructure, and intimidate communities.
Trajectory
The attack highlighted the insurgents‘ ability to strike repeatedly despite the presence of a nighttime curfew and heightened security. The choice of a police station in a residential area (Mandawari neighbourhood, near the Emir’s palace) was a deliberate signal that no security installation was safe.
Cycle notes
The Rijiyar Zaki attack directly echoed the police station assaults of the “Kano Blitz” (20 January 2012) and the 24 January attack on another police station in Kano. It also prefigured the 9 March 2012 attack on the same police station, in which three policemen were wounded. The pattern of attacking police stations – a recurring Boko Haram tactic – was designed to seize weapons, free detained members, and degrade the state‘s ability to respond. The government’s reliance on a nighttime curfew and the deployment of the Joint Task Force (JTF) had been used previously after the 2009 Boko Haram uprising and would be repeated in the years that followed.
Pattern
Attack on Security Institutions
Related — Armed Attack
Boko Haram militants attacked the Gamboru police station in Maiduguri, Borno State. They used homemade grenades and a petrol bomb to burn the station to the ground, injuring up to three police officers.
Boko Haram members stormed a Government Secondary School in the New Jerusalem area of Damaturu. Unlike the late-night raids seen later in the year, this was a targeted strike. The gunmen opened fire on students writing exams and teachers in their offices. Two of the attackers were reportedly killed by security forces during a subsequent shootout.
Armed confrontation between Boko Haram members and local vigilante group outside Damboa town, resulting in deaths and arrests of sect members carrying automatic weapons