Gun battle erupts again in northeast Nigeria city

Yobe state police commissioner Lawan Tanko says the fighting late Thursday night and Friday morning around the state capital, Damaturu, left some people wounded or dead, though he said he did not immediately know how many. Tanko said the area was "generally calm" Friday afternoon.

Tanko said police started the gunbattle while pursuing suspected members of the sect known as Boko Haram. Witnesses said they saw at least four security official dead after an explosion Thursday.

Boko Haram has carried out an increasingly bloody sectarian fight against Nigeria's weak central government in its effort to implement strict Shariah law in Africa's most populous nation.