Boko Haram Founder Mohammed Yusuf Killed

On July 30, 2009, Nigerian police extrajudicially killed Mohammed Yusuf, the founder and leader of the Islamist group Boko Haram (Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad), while he was in custody in Maiduguri. His killing followed a five-day military crackdown on the group’s members that left over 700 people dead.

Yusuf’s death, far from ending the movement, triggered its transformation into a full-scale armed insurgency under his deputy Abubakar Shekau. The insurgency that followed would kill over 350,000 people and displace millions across the Lake Chad region.