July 5 2011 VOA News Nigeria's state security service says it has arrested more than 100 alleged members of a northern-based Islamic militant group, including some key leaders.
Security officials did not name the group, but the Boko Haram group has claimed responsibility for deadly violence in six northern states, including assassinations and attacks on police stations. The attacks include last month's bombing of the headquarters of the national police in the capital, Abuja.
Boko Haram's name means “Western education is sinful” in the Hausa language. It wants to spread strict Islamic law across northern Nigeria.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has offered to hold talks with the group, but Boko Haram has so far refused.
Police in the northern city Nigerian of Maiduguri are searching for whoever was behind a series of shootings and bombings that killed 10 people Sunday.
No one has claimed responsibility, but police suspect Boko Haram.
At least 10 people have been killed in a series of bombings and gun attacks in Nigeria's troubled northeast.
A local police official says an explosion Sunday evening killed at least five people and wounded 10 others at a bar near a police barracks in the city of Maiduguri.
In a separate attack, gunmen shot and killed a local politician in another part of the city.
Police also say gunmen shot and killed four people late Saturday in Maiduguri.
The attacks are thought to be the work of Boko Haram, an Islamic fundamentalist group whose name means “Western education is sinful.” However, no one has yet claimed responsibility.
The group did claim responsibility for a separate bombing at Nigeria's police headquarters earlier this month, and has been blamed for numerous attacks on police, government officials and religious leaders.
Nigerian officials have offered to negotiate with the shadowy group, but its spokesmen have rejected the offer so far.
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