Nigeria college attack leaves 13 dead

Students and workers at the Federal College of Education in the Kofar Kabuga area of Kano fled in panic as gunmen stormed the campus at about 1300 GMT. By (AFP)

Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - At least 13 people were killed and 34 others wounded when police fought a battle with suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers in Kano, northern Nigeria, the state's police chief said on Wednesday.

Kano State police commissioner Adelere Shinaba said the gunmen, whom he described as "insurgents", ran onto the grounds of the Federal College of Education after exchanging fire with police outside.

"They were obviously suicide bombers. One of our officers shot at one of the gunmen and the explosives on him went off, killing him on the spot," he told AFP.

"Another gunman was also killed. Thirteen people were killed by the gunmen and 34 others have been taken to hospital with injuries."

Educational establishments in Nigeria's second city, the commercial capital of the north and a centre of Islamic scholarship dating back centuries, have been hit several times in recent months.

On July 30, a female suicide bomber killed six people after detonating her explosives at a noticeboard on the campus of the Kano Polytechnic College while students were crowded around it.

The attack was the fourth by a female bomber in the city in a week and prompted the authorities to cancel celebrations marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

On July 27, another female bomber blew herself up outside a university in Kano after police prevented her from getting inside the campus.

A previous bombing on June 23 killed at least eight when it went off in the grounds of the city's School of Hygiene.

The bombings were linked to Boko Haram, the Islamist insurgent group opposed to so-called "Western education" that has been waging a deadly five-year insurgency in Nigeria's Muslim-majority north.