KANO (Nigeria): Nigerian police foiled fresh attacks in the northern city of Kano on Monday, discovering 10 bomb-laden cars and hundreds of other unexploded devices from a wave of deadly violence last week.

Clerics said prayers for peace after the attacks on Friday that killed at least 184 people in the country’s second-largest city and stoked fresh fears of an all-out civil war in Africa’s most populous nation and top oil producer.

President Goodluck Jonathan vowed to beef up security as he grapples with the worst crises of his nine-month tenure — a surge in violence by the Islamist sect Boko Haram blamed for the attacks and mounting social discontent.

Kano, a mainly Muslim city of 4.2 million, was left reeling after bombs were set off and gun battles raged in coordinated strikes after Friday prayers that targeted mainly police buildings, including the police headquarters.

Details began to emerge on Monday of the mode of the attacks, with police announcing the discovery of large numbers of explosive devices and that at five of the assailants were suicide bombers.—AFP