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Five Boko Haram suspects captured by Nigeria after deadly kidnap
(Reuters) – Nigerian authorities have detained five Islamist militants suspected of involvement in kidnapping two Westerners killed during a failed British-Nigerian rescue operation, security officials said on Friday.
The suspects included the ringleader of the kidnappers, a man going by the name of Abu Mohammed, a senior source at the State Security Service (SSS) told Reuters.
Briton Chris McManus and Italian Franco Lamolinara were killed by their captors on Thursday when British-backed Nigerian troops surrounded their compound on the edge of the remote northern Nigerian city of Sokoto, British and Nigerian authorities said.
The two had been working for a construction company when they were seized in May from their accommodation in Kebbi state, near Nigeria’s northwestern borders with Niger and Benin.
The SSS source said Nigerian forces arrested two of the conspirators on Tuesday, including Abu Mohammed, near Sokoto, on the basis of a Nigerian intelligence tipoff. After interrogation the two led them to the compound.
The Nigerian and British forces mounted a joint raid two days later. The source said three kidnappers were taken alive from inside the house and the others were killed.
He said a splinter group of the Islamist group Boko Haram, with links to al Qaeda’s north African wing, was behind the kidnapping.
The large compound where the hostages had been held was left pock-marked with bullet holes. The crime scene appeared to be completely unguarded on Friday, with bystanders wandering in and out of the house.
