110328 Party youth leader killed in northeast Nigeria
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen suspected of being members of a radical Islamic sect shot
dead a political party youth leader in northeast Nigeria on Sunday, less than a week before elections
begin in Africa's most populous nation.
The local politician was a member of the opposition All Nigeria People's Party, which has localised
support in parts of the north of the country but is not expected to gain the widespread backing needed
to win the presidential vote.
The police said they believed the killing was carried out by members of Boko Haram, a radical Islamic
group behind months of unrest and targeted religious killings, mostly in the northeast around
Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.
"The killers had come on their motorbikes in their usual manner before shooting their victim on the
head and chest," said Mohammed Abubakar, Police Commissioner of Borno state.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sinful", launched an uprising in 2009 in which
hundreds of people were killed and has increasingly targeted politicians in its attacks.
The sect wants sharia, Islamic law, more widely applied across Nigeria but its views are not espoused
by most of the country's Muslim population, the largest in sub-Saharan Africa.
Parliamentary elections will be held in Nigeria on April 2, the presidential poll is a week later and
voters will elect governors in the country's 36 states on April 16.
© Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved