Mohammed Yusuf, 39, whose Boko Haram sect caused mayhem and hundreds of deaths across northern Nigeria this week, was shot dead on Thursday night as security forces cracked down on his followers. “Mohammed Yusuf was killed by security forces in a shootout while trying to escape,” a police spokesman told Nigerian television.
Boko Haram, which was formed in 2002, wants to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, across the whole of Nigeria and is also opposed to Western education. Yusuf was captured after the Nigerian military stormed his compound and a mosque in the town of Maiduguri. Some reports suggest that as many of 100 militants were killed in the army assault. Blood-stained bodies of young men littered the streets after the battle. The streets of Maiduguri were quiet on Friday.
Published 31 July 2009, 17:25 IST