'Nigeria: the context for violence' (2006-2013)

[Tom Odom]

uh it looks like a classic case of suicide while trying to escape or suicide by trying to escape or suicide for contemplating escape or a shoot out while trying to escape when his finger misfired

anyway

he did not escape....

Captured leader of Nigerian militant sect is dead

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of a fundamentalist Islamist sect who was initially reported captured Thursday by the Nigerian military, is dead, said a spokesman for the governor of the state of Borno.

"I have just come from the police station and seen his body," said Usman Ciroma, chief secretary to the governor of Borno. "I believe he was killed in a shoot-out. ... I saw his body with bullet wounds."

Radical Islamic leader Mohammed Yusuf shot dead by Nigerian security forces

Nigerian security forces claimed victory today over a radical Islamic sect blamed for some of the worst violence to hit the West African country for years after police shot dead its leader.

Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the so-called Nigerian Taleban, was killed after he was captured on Thursday night at the end of a four-day manhunt. His bullet-ridden body was shown to journalists by police shortly after his death.

Human rights campaigners immediately alleged that he had been executed and warned of revenge attacks. Police said today that he died in a shoot-out.

Update:

Probe sought in Nigerian hard-line Islamic leader's death

From Christian Purefoy
CNN

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- Human rights groups pressed Friday for information on how a fundamentalist Islamist sect leader died and are seeking an investigation.

Mohammed Yusuf was initially reported captured Thursday by the military, but was found dead after he was turned over to police.

There has been no official explanation of Yusuf's death.

"We demand a full investigation into the circumstances of Mohammed Yusuf's murder," Shehu Sani, president of the Civil Rights Congress, said Friday. "Whether he was a militant leader or armed rebel, dying in police custody is not same as dying in armed combat."