Gunmen pretending to be mourners have shot dead a bereaved former local council chair in Maiduguri, capital of Nigeria’s northern Borno state, the local press reported Sunday.
The report said two men, who joined sympathizers in condoling Lawal Kabu, former chairman of Damboa Local Government, who recently lost his father, suddenly brought out their assault rifles and shot Kabu dead.
State Police Simeon Midenda, confirmed the incident, and asked for assistance from the public in identifying the killers.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of the violent Islamic sect Boko Haram.
The sect, which has Maiduguri as its spiritual base, has killed 935 people since July 2009, when it launched its violent campaign aimed at imposing the Islamic Sharia law in the predominantly-Muslim northern Nigeria, according to figures by the New York-based Human Rights Watch.