REUTERS
KANO: Gunmen on motorbikes shot dead nine health workers who were administering polio vaccinations in two separate attacks in Nigeria's main northern city of Kano on Friday, police said.
No one claimed responsibility but Islamist militant group Boko Haram - a sect which has condemned the use of Western
medicine - has been blamed for carrying out a spate of assaults on security forces in the city in recent weeks.No one claimed responsibility but Islamist militant group Boko Haram - a sect which has condemned the use of Western
The shootings will hit efforts by global health organizations to clear Nigeria of polio - a virus that can cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection.
"Gunmen opened fire on a health center in the Hotoro district killing seven, while an attack on Zaria Road area of the city claimed two lives," said police spokesman Magaji Musa.
"They were working for the state government giving out polio vaccinations at the time of the attack," Musa added.
Boko Haram killed hundreds last year in its effort to impose Islamic law, or sharia, on a country of 160 million split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.
The group is seen as the most serious threat to the stability of Africa's top energy producer, and Western governments fear the country could become a base for operations of al Qaeda-linked Islamist groups in the Sahara.
