Potiskum, July 29: Fierce clashes between local fighters and security forces are continuing in northeastern Nigeria.
The battles have left over 250 people dead over the past three days.
Witnesses say security forces have shelled a mosque and the home of extremist leader Mohammed Yusuf in Borno state.
Police say the shelling was in response to mortar fire and gunshots from the building.
Sporadic mortar fire and gunshots were heard in Maiduguri and a black plume of smoke rose above the city.
“The deafening sounds are from mortar shelling of the house of the leader of the Taliban by the military,” AFP quoted a source at the police headquarters as saying.
“The military is also shelling the mosque run by the group, which hundreds of its followers have been guarding,” he said.
The fighting has continued despite a dusk-to-dawn curfew in major cities.
President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has also put security forces on maximum alert.
The unrest began in the northern city of Bauchi last weekend after members of a radical group attacked a police station in retaliation for the arrest of their leaders.
Later, the violence spread to adjoining cities, with mobs attacking prisons, churches, and government institutions.
—-Agencies