Boko Haram Again: Borno Council Boss Shot Dead

Gunmen have stormed the home of a local government chairman in Nigeria’s northeast and shot him dead, a state official said Monday, amid a wave of such attacks blamed on an Islamist sect.

According to AFP, the attackers killed Lawan Yaraye, chairman of Kukawa district in Borno state, where most of the attacks blamed on the Islamist sect known as Boko Haram have occurred.

His home was in the city of Maiduguri, the epicentre of the violence.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for Friday’s suicide bombing of UN headquarters in the capital Abuja, but police are considering all possibilities.

“Unknown gunmen stormed the house of the chairman last night and shot him dead,” Borno state local government commissioner Kaka Bashir Gabai said.

“We still don’t know who the gunmen were and why they decided to kill him.”

Yaraye lived in Maiduguri, but the district he was chairman of is located some 100 kilometres away from the city, which is the capital of Borno state.

Boko Haram has been blamed for scores of such attacks in recent months. If it is found to be behind the UN bombing that killed at least 21, it would mark a dramatic shift in its violent campaign.

The sect on 17 June, 2011 detonated explosives planted in a car at the car park at Police Headquarters in Abuja. The blast killed several people and resulted in the burning of scores of vehicles.

The sect has also struck in most northern states. The incessant attacks led the Federal Government to deploy soldiers to Borno State but that has not deterred the sect as it continues with its violent campaign.