International human right groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Friday demanded an investigation into the death of a Nigerian Islamic sect leader, whose death in police custody was announced just hours after he was reportedly captured alive.
New York-based Human Rights Watch called for an investigation into reports that Mohammed Yusuf was shot and killed hours after his arrest and described it as a case of "extrajudicial killing." It said that the reports of events leading to Yusuf's death were "extremely worrying."
Meanwhile, London-based Amnesty International condemned Yusuf's killing and demanded strict action against those responsible for conducting or tolerating the "illegal killings" while quelling the recent uprising by Yousuf's radical Islamist sect.
"Anyone responsible for illegal killings should be brought to justice, including officials with chain-of-command responsibility who order or tolerate illegal killings by those under their command," Amnesty International said in a statement.
The statements by the two rights group came a day after Nigerian police authorities announced that Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of an Islamic sect responsible for four days of violence that left dozens dead in northern Nigeria, was "killed by security forces in a shoot-out while trying to escape".
The police announcement came just hours after he was reportedly arrested alive from a house in the northern city of Maiduguri following days of deadly clashes between his followers and security forces.
Reports of dispute between Nigeria's army and police also surfaced on Friday over the death of Yusuf, with the army claiming that he was alive when it's forces captured and handed him over to the police on Thursday.
Nigerian security forces Thursday stormed the headquarters of Yusuf's Boko Haram Islamic sect in the city of Maiduguri, ending three days of continuous fighting with armed militants holed up inside. The assault came after security forces were reenforced with 1,000 additional troops to deal with hundreds of militants hiding in the compound. Initial reports suggested that at least 150 people have died in the three days of fighting at the sect headquarters.
The violence in northern states of Nigeria began on Sunday after armed militants of the Boko Haram sect attacked a police station in Bauchi state, following the arrest of several of their leaders.
The Boko Haram sect comprise followers of Mohammed Yusuf, a preacher who campaigns against Western education, which it considers is against Islamic teaching. The sect wants the enforcement of strict Islamic law in Nigeria after overthrowing the current government.
The fighting later spread to other northern states with Islamic militants attacking two police stations in the states of Yobe and Borno on Monday. It is estimated that over 500 people have been killed in the fighting in the northern states of Yobe, Borno, Bauchi and Kano since Sunday.
Nigerian officials claim that security forces have managed to enforce order throughout the troubled region after President Umaru Yar'Adua ordered them to take necessary actions to quell the violence.
Nigeria, which is about evenly split between Christians and Muslims, has witnessed periodic sectarian clashes in the recent past. Some 700 people were killed in clashes between Muslims and Christians last November in Jos, the capital of Plateau state, while 14 were killed in similar clashes in Bauchi state in February.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.