Bullet-poked buildings, razed police stations and burnt cars follow the trail of the retreating Islamic militants engaged in a shootout with soldiers in Nigeria's Muslim-dominated Kano State.
Kano residents who have seen the militants say they all wear red turbans and flowing gowns which they say give them protection against bullets.
The Nigerian army say they have already killed 25 of the estimated 300-strong militants who had earlier killed 13 policemen.
Local media reports also suggest that the casualty figure may be higher as some ordinary people had been killed in Wednesday morning's shootout between the militants and the military.
The army are also saying the militants, who call themselves "Taleban", are non-Nigerian, a claim that is being backed by residents of who say they have heard them speak a "strange language".
Although they are being described as Islamic fundamentalists, their victims so far have been policemen and soldiers rather than any traditional "enemies".
"We don't know the people. We don't even know where they came from," a Kano man told the BBC.
According to local Kano residents, the militants are targeting law enforcement agents because the state had failed to protect Islamic clerics such as Sheikh Ja'afar Adam, a radical preacher who was killed while praying in a mosque.
"We are on top of the situation," says Col Ayo Olaniyan, who is the director of information at the Nigerian Army headquarters.
Already, soldiers and riot police have cordoned off the Chalawa area where the militants are said to be hiding.
"Right now, we are trying to dislodge them. It's not true that we have lost any soldiers there."
The BBC's Alex Last in Kano says although the shooting has stopped, sporadic gunshots could still be heard around the area where the soldiers engaged the militants.
^ Back to top | BBC Sport Home | BBC Homepage | Contact us | Help | ©
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~38~RS~)