100s of bodies lie in streets
2009-07-31 22:15
Maiduguri - Nigerian authorities collected hundreds of bodies from the streets of the northern city of Maiduguri on Friday following days of clashes with members of a radical Islamic sect.
State government and health ministry officials piled the corpses, onto open trucks as police and soldiers patrolled.
The northeastern zone disaster management officer for the Nigerian Red Cross, Aliyu Maikano,, said they had collected more than 300 bodies, and more were being collected.
The toll in Maiduguri brings to at least 300 the total number of people killed in violence that has erupted in several states around northern Nigeria since Sunday.
Condemned
The authorities are hoping the killing of sect leader Mohammed Yusuf, whose Boko Haram movement wants a wider adoption of sharia (Islamic law) across Africa's most populous nation, will bring an end to the six-day uprising by his followers.
Yusuf, 39, was shot dead while in police detention late on Thursday. Officials have said he died in a shoot-out while trying to escape, but rights groups have condemned what appeared to have been an execution-style killing.
Hundreds of people gathered to see Yusuf's corpse, laid on the ground in front of Maiduguri police headquarters alongside the bodies of other presumed Boko Haram members.
Amnesty International called for an investigation and said those behind illegal killings must be brought to justice.