Jihadist assailants stormed the Adavi town police station on Saturday, sparking a fierce firefight with duty officers, according to state police spokesman William Ovye Aya.
"The (police) command lost three of its officers during the exchange of gunfire," he added.
The attackers managed to escape despite gunshot wounds, but efforts are underway "to apprehend them and bring them to justice", added William Ovye Aya.
The Islamic State in West Africa (Iswap) group claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Caliphate soldiers attacked a police station” in the Kogi region, the group said in a statement on Telegram, saying the attack left five people dead.
This is the third attack claimed by Iswap this week in states relatively far from its Lake Chad strongholds in the northeast of the country.
On Wednesday, six people died and 16 others were injured in an explosion at a bar in the town of Iware, in Taraba state (northeast).
On Friday evening, another drinking establishment was targeted in the same region by an explosion which injured 11 people, according to local police.
Kogi State has repeatedly been the target of sometimes spectacular attacks by criminal gangs and jihadist fighters.
In September 2021, assailants entered a prison in Kabba, freeing more than 200 inmates, according to prison authorities.
Iswap was born out of a split with Boko Haram in 2016. Affiliated with IS, Iswap has become the dominant jihadist group in northeast Nigeria since the death of rival Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, in May 2021 in a clash with Iswap fighters.
The jihadists usually intensify their attacks during Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims.
The conflict that started 13 years ago in northeast Nigeria between the authorities and Boko Haram, then other armed Islamist groups, has claimed the lives of 40,000 people and forced two million others to flee their household, according to the UN.
With AFP
The summary of the
France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 app
google-play-badge_FR