Boko Haram, violence on the rise in Nigeria

Two deadly attacks that left at least eight people dead in Kankara town, Nigeria is thought to be the work of militant Islamic group Boko Haram.

A group of ten gunmen attacked a bank and a police station in the Kastina State city. Five of seven of the deceased were policemen.

The attackers were ten in all, divided themselves in two groups and attacked the bank and the police station at the same time with guns and bombs, Kankara resident Salmanu Jabir told Agence France Presse.

One group attacked the divisional police station, killing three policemen ... and setting free suspects from cells before bombing the police station, Danjuma Nakande, another Kankara resident, told the news source.

While the attack on the police station was on, another group was robbing the bank.

The group detonated a bomb outside the bank before storming in and taking cash. A security guard was killed by the gunmen.

As is becoming indicative of Boko Haram, the gunmen fled on motorcycles, firing at police as they rode away.

The attack comes less than one week after two Boko Haram-linked bombs were detonated outside separate Nigerian police compounds. The attacks killed nine people. The group warned that more, fiercer attacks were soon to come.

In a handwritten statement, the group said Very soon, we will wage jihad...We want to make it known that our jihadists have arrived in Nigeria from Somalia where they received real training on warfare from our brethren who made that country ungovernable.

While Boko Haram had demanded earlier to speak with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, they said they would no longer negotiate as a punishment for police chief Hafiz Ringim's statement that the days of Boko Haram are numbered. The jihadist group had previously said that they would try to convince President Jonathan to make Borno an Islamic state.

Police chiefs in Nigeria are meeting to discuss the sect at national police headquarters in the Louis Edet House, which was the site of the Boko Haram planned car bombings last week.

The name Boko Haram translates to non-Islamic education is a sin. The group is thought to be behind a number of other attacks in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, including market bombings and political assassinations. The cell emerged in 2009, when the group staged a military uprising that was stopped by police, but left hundreds dead.