Four people were killed on Thursday when suspected members of the Boko Haram sect attacked a police station in Damagun in Yobe State, authorities confirmed.

The suspected insurgents had reportedly stormed the station late Wednesday night, setting it ablaze in the latest attack on security forces in the the troubled northern region.

Yobe State police spokesman Gbagesin Toyin said, “a group of suspected members of Boko Haram attacked the Damagun police station, where they detonated explosives that set the station on fire,” the AFP reported.

Toyin said three of the gunmen were killed in the attacks, while senior health personnel of the general hospital in Damagum also died during the gun battle.

According to Channels Television reports, the assailants had proceeded to a prison in the area where they then freed 14 inmates.

One resident claimed that the seemingly large crowd of attackers had stormed the building shouting “Allahu Akbar”; while another resident said the gunmen had engaged officers in a shootout before hurling explosives into the station.

“They have burnt down the police station and shut down the highway… Everybody is indoors,” the resident said.

The assailants, Channels Television reported, also attacked other places in the area, including a temporary army camp and housing quarters for Korean doctors employed by the Yobe State government.