KANO, Nigeria (AFP) – Suspected members of a radical Islamist sect blamed for a spate of recent attacks in northern Nigeria shot dead a policeman in the flashpoint city of Maiduguri, police said Monday.

"We have received reports that a policeman was shot and killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen suspected to be members of outlawed Boko Haram sect," Borno state police spokesman Lawal Abdullahi told AFP.

The police officer was wearing civilian clothes and was about to enter his home in the Gwange district of the city when he was killed, the spokesman said by telephone from Maiduguri.

"Apparently the attackers were on his trail and knew about his movements," Lawal said, adding that no arrest has been made in connection with the attack.

Members of Islamist sect have been blamed for series of attacks in Maiduguri from where it launched a short-lived armed uprising in 2008.

Scores have been killed in attacks in recent months that have targeted police, community leaders and churches.

The sect has claimed responsibility for the Christmas Eve attacks on churches in Maiduguri and multiple bomb blasts and reprisals in the central city of Jos in which 86 people were killed.