LAGOS
Nigerian police said Tuesday they had arrested a man who had confessed to being the Boko Haram insurgent group's "chief butcher" in the northeastern Bauchi State, which has recently witnessed violence that has been blamed on the group.
"Police detectives attached to Bauchi State Police Command... have arrested one Mohamed Zakari, a male of 30 years old and senior member of the Boko Haram terrorists' organization," police spokesman Frank Mba said in a statement.
He said the suspect had been fleeing from intensive counter-insurgency operations currently underway in Balmo Forest.
Mba described the suspect as "the self-styled 'chief butcher' of the insurgent group at the Balmo Forest Camp and is linked with the recent slaughter of seven people, including women and children."
Police said the arrest followed recent raids on insurgent hideouts in Balmo Forest, where suspected militants – including two foreigners – were arrested and weapons seized from underground depots.
"Findings as well as disclosures from the suspect will assist the law enforcement agencies in tracking down some other members of the terror cell," Mba said.
He said the suspect had "actively participated in the April attack against customs officers at Kari Town along Maiduguri Road, Bauchi State."
Boko Haram militants are notorious for slaughtering their victims, especially those caught along highways, making road travel in the region a nightmare.
Nigeria is battling a five-year-old insurgency in which tens of thousands have been killed, businesses ruined and at least six million people displaced, according to recent data released by parliament.
The shadowy sect has been designated a terrorist organization by Nigeria, Turkey and the United States, while Washington has put a $7-million bounty on the head of its eccentric leader, Abubakar Shekau.
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