Nigeria trains terrorism police

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Nigeria is training its first group of specialist anti-terrorism police.

The 308 officers will be deployed to the northern city of Kano, the Niger Delta city of Port Harcourt and the commercial capital, Lagos.

Last year, the US embassy issued a warning that al-Qaeda was planning to attack US and UK interests in the country.

Six people are currently in jail facing terrorism charges, but lawyers say the evidence against them is weak.

The force will also investigate incidents of "domestic terrorism", including Niger Delta militancy.

The commander of the anti-terrorism force says although the unit is small, their training would be "world-class".

Some officers will be sent to the US or the UK for courses.

"The number of officers in the unit is not important, it is the quality of their training that matters," said Police Commissioner Bala Hassan.

Terror attacks

There have so far been no attacks linked to al-Qaeda in Nigeria, but diplomats from the US and UK are worried terrorists from Algeria may cross the "porous" northern border to attack oil interests.

During the election last year a group of gunmen took over a police station in the town of Panshekara near Kano. Thirteen policemen were killed.

The army and air force had to be called in to quell the militants, and most of the band were killed.

It is not publically known where they came from or what their purpose exactly was.

The six people in prison include five men arrested in Kano during the visit of US secretary of State John Negroponte.

Lawyers acting for them say the only evidence against them are some bags of fertilizer the government says was for a bomb.

The sixth person known to be facing terrorism charges is Mohammed Ashafa, an Islamic scholar arrested in Pakistan four years ago.

His lawyer says he has been tortured into confessing links to al-Qaeda.