Nigeria: Self-defense fighter dies thwarting suicide attack

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – Police say a member of a civilian self-defense force has died while intercepting a suicide bomber at a mosque in northeastern Nigeria.

Police spokesman Victor Isukwu says the attack occurred early Tuesday near the University of Maiduguri, where five people died in a bombing earlier this month.

Isukwu says many others could have been killed if the self-defense member, a recent graduate of the university, had not intervened.

Maiduguri is the birthplace of the Boko Haram insurgency.