[EURONEWS] Suspected members of the Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
Islamist group, which kidnapped 276 schoolgirls last month, bumped off a traditional Moslem 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 gunnies 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 murderous Moslems, according to a Rooters count.
Timta died from gunshot wounds and two coppers were killed while the other two emirs managed to escape, a source at the Emir of Uba's palace told Rooters, requesting anonymity.
"The Emir of Gwoza was killed around 9 a.m. today following a bloody attack by some gunnies believed to be members of the Boko Haram," Borno state government said in a statement.
Sources had earlier told Rooters 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 kidnapped.
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.
| An Nahar refers to the assassinated gentleman as a senior Muslim cleric and "a Nigerian Islamic monarch" and the two men in the car with him as "other Muslim royals". An Nahar adds: |
A jacket wallah tried to kill Nigeria's third most powerful emir, the Shehu of Borno, Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, as he left Friday prayers in July 2012. The monarch survived the attack that left five people dead.
The convoy of the Emir of Kano, Nigeria's number two Islamic leader, was targeted in an attack last year.
The attack follows calls from activists for Nigeria's Islamic royals, including the Borno monarch, to play a greater role in curbing Boko Haram's violence and helping secure the release of the 219 schoolgirls held hostage by the krazed killers.
The leader of Nigeria's Mohammedans, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa'ad Abubakar III, called for unity in the battle against Boko Haram in a public address at the National Mosque last weekend, urging his followers to support the government.
Prominent displays of support for the government from the country's top holy man may have caught the attention of some Boko Haram commanders.
But there was no immediate evidence linking Friday's attack to the Islamists or the Sultan's recent remarks.
Initial reports indicated that the gunnies were looking to abduct the emirs, reflecting an increasing trend for ransom kidnappings by the Islamists to fund their anti-government uprising.