"Rioters set a police station ablaze in northern Nigeria near where a radical Islamic sect operates, a police spokesman said Tuesday. The attack was similar to one that sparked a wave of violence last year that left more than 700 people dead. 

Nigeria federal police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu told The Associated Press the attack occurred sometime Monday night or Tuesday morning in the village of Gamboru, just northeast of Maiduguri in Nigeria's Muslim north. Ojukwu said he had no immediate casualty figures. 

A similar attack on a police station heralded a violent uprising by the radical Boko Haram sect in July 2009. A subsequent security crackdown led to more than 700 deaths. However, Ojukwu said he didn't know whether the sect was involved in the attack. 

An Associated Press reporter heading toward the police station Tuesday morning said he saw a strong police presence on roads heading out of Maiduguri, the city where the sect once had its main mosque. The reporter said he saw officers patting down every passer-by, checking for hidden weapons. 

Authorities fear Boko Haram, which means 'Western education is sacrilege' in the local Hausa language, has regrouped and rearmed since the 2009 violence. The group wants a stricter version of Islam's Shariah law in place across Nigeria."