The leader of al-Qaeda-linked Islamistgroup Ansaru has been arrested in Nigeria, authorities there say.A military spokesman said Khalid al-Barnawi was captured in Lokoja, capital of the central state of Kogi.The US had placed a$5m (£3.5m) bounty on his head after branding him one of three Nigerian “specially designated global terrorists” in 2012.Ansaru is a splinter group of Nigeria’s largest jihadistgroup, Boko Haram, known for kidnappingforeigners.uIdeologically aligned to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, it is also accused of killing a number of Westerners.Ansaru said it carried out an attack on a maximum security prison in the Nigerian capital Abuja in 2012, freeing dozens of inmates.“Security agents made abreakthrough on Friday in the fight against terrorism by arresting Khalid al-Barnawi, theleader of Ansaru terrorist groupin Lokoja,” military spokesman Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar said.“He is among those on top of the list of our wanted terrorists.”
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