MILITARY authorities say they are questioning a leader of Boko Haram, the Islamic militant group blamed for the killings of hundreds of civilians, after capturing him in the northeast earlier on Sunday.
Security operatives captured Mohammed Zangina shortly after midnight in Maiduguri, said military spokesman Lt. Col. Sagir Musa.
Zangina is a member of the Shura Committee, the movement’s governing body, and has coordinated “most of the most of the suicide attacks and bombings” in several cities, including the capital Abuja, Musa said.
A major military crackdown on Boko Haram was launched on New Year’s Day. The group has killed more than 2,800 people in an escalating campaign to impose strict Islamic law on largely Muslim northern Nigeria, according to figures reported by local and international observer organizations.
In the past, the group attacked other Muslims it felt were on an immoral path. But it has increasingly targeted Christians with numerous attacks on churches, as well as striking police stations.
The arrest comes barely 48 hours after operatives of the Department of State Security arrested a top Boko Haram member, Hassan Pagi Bukar at the residence of a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tijani Umara Kumalia.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, the JTF spokesman, Zangina who was among the top Boko Haram leaders declared wanted by the JTF last year was nabbed at GRA Maiduguri in the early hours of today.