Boko Haram suspected as gunmen kill Nigerian traditional Muslim leader

Suspected members of the Boko Haram Islamist group, which
kidnapped 276 schoolgirls last month, gunned down a traditional
Muslim emir in an attack on a convoy in northeastern Nigeria on
Friday, the Borno state government said.

The Emir of Gwoza, Alhaji Idrissa Timta, was travelling with the
emirs of Uba and Askira to a attend a funeral when the suspected
Islamist gunmen opened fire on their car in Zhur, a remote
community in Borno state.

Since April 14, when the girls were taken, at least 500 civilians
have been killed by the militants, according to a Reuters count.
Timta died from gunshot wounds and two policemen were killed
while the other two emirs managed to escape, a source at the Emir
of Uba’s palace told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

“The Emir of Gwoza was killed around 9 a.m. today following a
bloody attack by some gunmen believed to be members of the
Boko Haram,” Borno state government said in a statement.

Sources had earlier told Reuters two of the traditional leaders had
been kidnapped, but the palace source said the emirs of Uba and
Askira had simply hidden for some time in the bush, leading to
fears they had been abducted.

Most of the vehicles in the convoy were destroyed, the source said.
Friday’s attack came as leaders from the 15-member Economic
Community of West African States [ECOWAS] met in Ghana to
discuss worsening insecurity in northern Nigeria and in Mali,
where Tuareg separatists routed government troops last week.

“We must act, and we must put in place measures that make clear
that we will not allow any of our countries to be used to
destabilize other nations,” Ghana’s President, John Dramani
Mahama, who holds the rotating presidency of the bloc, said at the
opening of the summit.

“ECOWAS must play a leading role in the effort to fully restore
peace and security to the subregion and by so doing safeguard our
future,” he said.

Nigeria’s head of counter-terrorism on Friday accused
neighbouring Cameroon, which is not an ECOWAS member, of
failing to make a serious effort to drive Boko Haram insurgents
from its territory.

Despite a year-long military offensive against it, Boko Haram,
which is fighting to reinstate an ancient Islamic caliphate in
northern Nigeria, has been able to run riot in the north east and
bomb cities across the country.

On Thursday, in the northeastern village of Gurmushi, near
Nigeria’s border with Cameroon, suspected Islamist gunmen riding
motor bikes killed 32 people.

Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan said on Thursday he had
ordered a full-scale operation against Boko Haram and sought to
reassure parents of the 219 schoolgirls still being held by the
group that their children would be freed.

Boko Haram has been kidnapping schoolgirls and forcing them to
become “brides” for commanders for more than a year, but the
attack on Chibok last month shocked the world and prompted an
international effort to free them.