Nigeria police kill rebel chief

12 April 2012

The leader of the Islamist sect blamed for days of violence in Nigeria has been shot dead in custody.

The police chief of the northern Borno state announced on radio that Mohammed Yusuf, head of Boko Haram - known as the Nigerian Taliban - was dead.

The governor's spokesman Usman Ciroma said: "I saw his body at police headquarters. I believe he was shot while he was trying to escape." At least 4,000 have been displaced in recent fighting between Boko Haram and Nigerian troops.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in