Army troops traded fire with militants Tuesday and deployed armored vehicles to surround the suspected hideout of a radical Muslim leader accused of orchestrating three days of violence in Africa's most populous nation. A tense calm returned to several towns elsewhere in northern Nigeria after authorities imposed curfews and poured security forces onto the streets to quell a wave of militant attacks against police, which have killed dozens of people since Sunday. Appealing for calm, President Umaru Yar'Adua told reporters: “This situation is being brought under control.” Sporadic gunfire was reported through the day in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, where some of the worst violence occurred Monday. Police exchanged intermittent fire with militants as they tried to raid their camps in the city, according to local journalist Olugbenga Akinbule. He said more than 3,000 people had been displaced in the city. Later in the day, the army sent armored vehicles to Maiduguri and deployed them in a residential district that is believed to be a stronghold of the sect. Officers said they believed militant leader Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf was holed up in a house in the district. As army vehicles approached and opened fire, sect members fired back, soldiers said. An Associated Press reporter in the area saw smoke billowing above homes. Army Maj. Gen. Saleh Maina said troops were hunting for sect members in homes and a mosque and near the Maiduguri railway station. He said the operation was being carried out “to prevent further loss of lives and property.” Troops and police had begun blocking off the area Monday, sealing streets and ordering residents to leave for their own safety. Elsewhere in the city, the bodies of dozens of dead militants lay on roadsides.
