20110203
Xinhua
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- A group which identified itself as ''Jama atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda a Waati Wal Jihad'' has claimed responsibility for last Friday's assassination of a top politician and six others in Nigeria's northeastern Borno State.



Unknown gunmen on Friday killed the All Nigeria Peoples Party ( ANPP) governorship candidate in Borno, Modu Fannami Gubio, and six others shortly after Muslim prayers in Maiduguri, the state capital.

In a statement pasted on different locations in Maiduguri on Wednesday, the group also claimed responsibility for the Christmas eve bomb blast in northcentral Jos.

The group claimed to be under the leadership of one Imam Abu Mohammed Abubakar Bin Mohammed, popularly called Shekau.

Shekau was the military commander of the late Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf.

He was believed to have died during the 2009 Yusufiyya crisis in Maiduguri.

"We will continue with our attacks and anyone who tries to assist our enemies will also face the same fate," the group said.

But in a swift reaction, state police spokesperson Lawal Abdullahi said the claim could neither be accepted nor dismissed.

Abdullahi said a team of detectives led by a deputy inspector- general of police is currently investigating the killings.

"We are, however, advising law abiding citizens of Borno to go about their normal businesses without any fear as the police are on top of the situation," he said.

More than 50 other persons, mostly security personnel, had so far been killed by suspected Boko Haram militants since July 2009, when they launched attacks on individuals. The Boko Haram launched the first attack in the state in July 2009 during which many were killed and wounded with properties destroyed.

The sect's leader Yusuf and his alleged financier Buji Foi were killed in a counter attack by the security operative.

Members of the sect staged an uprising in Maiduguri in 2009, attacking symbols of the government authorities including prisons, police stations and schools, leading to clashes with security forces in which an estimated 800 people were killed.