They were all picked up in raids over the weekend by intelligence agencies.
In the face of mounting attacks by the Boko Haram militants in Nigeria, security agents over the weekend reportedly arrested two top leaders of the sect. This was allegedly in collaboration with the British MI5 and Israeli Mossad secret services that are now said to be active in the country, the Nigerian Tribune newspaper said.
A dependable security source told the newspaper that a close aide to Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, was picked up in the northern city of Kano in the evening of February 24; while the other was nabbed in Kebbi State the following day. The third official is said to be holed up in a neighbourhood in Sokoto State with security agents ready to swoop on his hideout, the Nigerian Tribune said. The source however refused to disclose the identity of the arrested men for obvious security reasons. Not long ago, the police rearrested the alleged mastermind of the 2011 Christmas Day church bombing near Abuja in which at least 40 people were killed.
In another development, more than 250 Nigerians have been killed in about eight bomb attacks by Boko Haram militants in Kano, Niger and Borno States between January and February this year, the Nigerian Tribune reported, quoting police figures. The bomb explosions in Kano State on Friday, January 20 recorded the highest number of casualties during the period with the number of dead put at over 185, including over 150 civilians, 29 policemen, three men of the State Security Service, SSS, and one Customs officer. Headquarters of security agencies in the city such as the police, SSS, the Nigerian Immigration Service, Customs and others were targeted in the coordinated bomb attacks, the paper said.
On Monday, February 20, the sect detonated explosives in Baga Market, Maiduguri in Borno State, killing 30 people. Between February 6 and 24, over 25 other people were killed and scores injured in bomb attacks by Boko Haram in Kano, Borno and Niger States that have gained notoriety as flash points for the deadly sect, the Nigerian Tribune said.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomb attack on the headquarters of the Church of Christ in Nigeria, COCIN, in the central Plateau State capital, Jos on Sunday February 26 left about eight people dead, including the three occupants of the car, the local press said.
