Boko Haram suspected after cleric killed in Nigeria

A Muslim cleric who had previously criticised Boko Haram has been shot dead with his wife and child in northern Nigeria, locals and his family said today.
Unknown gunmen opened fire on Adam Albani's car at about 10:30 pm (2130 GMT) yesterday in the city of Zaria, as he drove home from teaching a theology class.
Suspicions will likely fall on Boko Haram for carrying out the shooting, as Albani, 54, had criticised the group and given his support to the Nigerian military campaign against them.
His theology class was in the Tudunwada area of Zaria, where soldiers had carried out raids on two suspected militant hideouts in the past.

Local resident Mohammed Usman said Albani's wife and son were hit, while the gunmen appeared to have dragged the cleric from the car and shot him at close range.
"We kept hearing gunshots very close to our homes and later we heard the sound of a car retreating and when we later came to the scene we found Sheikh Albani lying outside the car with lots of bullet holes on him," he added.

"He was still alive but his wife and a child she was holding in the front seat were already dead while the rest of the children sitting in the back seat were unharmed."

Albani's brother Kaburu Adam said the preacher died shortly after he was admitted to hospital.
The preacher had been a close ally of another prominent cleric, Jaafar Mahmud Adam, who was shot dead at his mosque in the northern city of Kano in April 2007.