Kano – Nigerian government has arrested over 200 people, mostly Chadian “mercenaries,” on suspicion of involvement in last week’s attacks in the north, a day after Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan sacked the chief of police and his six deputies following demands for shake-up in the security services.

Members of the local Islamic group Boko Haram lie on the ground at a police station after their arrest in the northeastern city of Bauchi, July 25, 2009 | Photo: Ardo Hazzad

Coordinated attacks in the northern city of Kano last Friday killed at least 185 people, the deadliest ever assault claimed by the shadowy Islamist sect Boko Haram. Last year over 500 people were killed by the Boko Haram, while so far this year over 250 people have been killed in gun and bomb attacks across northern Nigeria.

“We have arrested around 200 attackers and 80 per cent of them are Chadians. They came in as mercenaries,” police sources said, requesting anonymity. There are indications that the Chadians had been paid to participate in the recent attacks attributed to Boko Haram, the source added.

Nigeria’s government has contacted the Chadian authorities to investigate whether the Boko Haram, has training facilities in Chad, the police official said. Nigerian security forces have long suspected Boko Haram of smuggling arms into the country through the porous northeastern border with Chad and Niger.

As opposition criticism built up, the police chief and his six deputies were sacked a week after Boko Haram member Kabiru Sokoto, the main suspect in a Christmas Day bomb attack, escaped from police custody, a presidential statement said Wednesday. It was the first step towards an overhaul of the force that was suffering from a “collapse in public confidence,” a presidential statement added.

Jonathan has said members of the Boko Haram sect have infiltrated the security services and all areas of government. Many say Boko Haram is a problem born and bred in Nigeria. The police sources Thursday claimed that suspected members of Boko Haram had reached out to the police for potential dialogue, with the emir of Kano as mediator. The emir is the most important traditional Muslim leader in Kano.

“They said they want the emir to mediate in the dialogue they proposed,” the source said.  The group, which initially said it was fighting for the creation of an Islamic state in deeply impoverished northern Nigeria, launched an uprising in 2009 that was put down by a brutal military assault.

A UN report on regional security released on Wednesday said there was evidence suggesting the Nigerian group had Chadian members who had received training from Al-Qaida’s north Africa affiliate. The African Union’s counter-terrorism chief Francisco Caetano Jose Madeira also warned on Tuesday that the Nigerian group may be trying to expand its activities deep into Central Africa.

Nigerian authorities have come under immense pressure over the spiraling violence blamed on the Islamists and have in the past been accused of rounding up innocent civilians in response to attacks. ”Following previous attacks by Boko Haram, the security forces have often resorted to dragnet arrests, rather than arresting people on the basis of a reasonable suspicion that they committed an offence,” Amnesty International said earlier this week.