Nigerian police arrested

Seventeen Nigerian police personnel have been arrested over the alleged extra-judicial killing of members of the Boko Haram religious sect last year.



Police spokesman Yemi Ajyai says the arrests had been carried out by members of the police Special Forces Squad.



The Boko Haram sect is reported to have attacked a police station in the northern city of Maiduguri, leading to days of clashes and hundreds of deaths.



A local TV station had showed footage of police personnel telling a group of young men to lie face down and then shooting them at close range.



The broadcast by al-Jazeera TV had led to the arrests and those detained had been taken to Abuja for questioning.