Suspected Boko Haram gunmen kill council chair in Nigeria

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Gunmen suspected to be members of the Islamic sect Boko Haram shot dead the chair of Chibok council area of Nigeria's northern Borno state Sunday, a military spokesman said.

''The assassins fled with the deceased Toyota Camry Car,'' Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa of the military Joint Task Force (JTF) deployed to the state to check the activities of the sect told journalists.

He said the task force had intensified efforts to apprehend the culprits.

Borno state is the home base of Boko Haram (meaning education is a sin in the local Hausa language), which has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings and attacks in the predominantly-Muslim northern Nigeria.

Nigeria's top military officer, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, said the sect had killed over 1,200 people in various attacks since 2009.
-0- PANA SEG 2April2012