Mohammmed Yusuf, reputed leader of the Islamic insurgents in the Northern part of Nigeria, has been reported dead in police custody sources told Saharareporters.
"He has been killed. You can come and see his body at the state police command headquarters," Isa Azare, spokesman for the Maiduguri police command, told Reuters news agency, according to a BBC story.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
He was 'captured' by soldiers earlier in the day, after reportedly being found hiding in a goat pen at his parents-in-law's house.
He was taken into custody in the city of Maiduguri amid fierce fighting with security forces since Sunday.
In a joint press briefing today at the Defence Headquarters with Force Public Relations officer ACP Emmanuel CS Ojukwu, and Assistant Director Public Relations, State Security Service, Marilyn Ogar, and the Director of Defence Intelligence (DDI), Col. Mohammed Yerima provided a partial update of the uprising with the "Boko Haram", an Islamist group opposed to "western education" and seeking to install Islam fully in the primarily Moslem northern states.
Approximately 19 Northern states were said to be involved.
But new reports fresh from members of the sect suggest that the struggle against western education was in fact a socio-political response to corruption and poverty brought by successive Nigerian leaders.
According to Dr. Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed, teacher of political science at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria: "Mohammed Yusuf has been critical of political developments in Nigeria as well as Western education. He specifically blames western education for training the looters of the Nigerian treasury".
The five days of unrest have claimed some 500 alleged "Boko Haram" members but rights groups claim that the Nigerian security forces, known for using excessive force, may have murdered scores of unarmed civilians in the fighting.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });