Suspected members of a military group in northern Nigeria have shot dead a policeman in the flashpoint city of Maiduguri, police say.
State police commissioner Mohammed Abubakar said that two gunmen on a motorcycle taxi shot dead the policeman early Monday morning while he was returning home after a night patrol in Maiduguri.
"We have received reports that a policeman was shot and killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen suspected to be members of outlawed Boko Haram sect," Borno state police spokesman Lawal Abdullahi told AFP.
Lawal, however, said no arrest has been made in connection with the attack.
Boko Haram was thought to be vanquished in 2009 after its leader was arrested and died in police custody. But Maiduguri and surrounding villages still live in fear of the group.
The sect has claimed responsibility for a series of bomb blasts and reprisals on Chrisman Eve in the central Nigerian city of Jos in which 86 people were killed.
SB/AKM/MMN