The military destroyed Yusuf's camp and conducted a house-to-house search to ensure that they cleared all his men hiding around the place.

Saleh Maina, military officer commanding of three Armored Division, said the army and the police had taken over the area, noting that there was no escape route for Yusuf and his men.

Till early Thursday evening, the NTA reported that Yusuf was killed in a fighting.

The riot was trigged by some popularly called "Boko Haram" which was said to have been campaigning against anything Western.

The sectarian unrest that erupted in northern Nigeria's Bauchi State on Sunday has spread to neighboring Adamawa, Kano, Borno and Yobe States where over 300 people were reportedly killed on Monday.

On Wednesday, hundreds of members of the sect were killed in a gun battle and the riots led to about 600 deaths in the past four days. Thousands of residents are reported to have fled their home.

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has directed that security be beefed up in all neighboring states and also that security personnel be placed on alert to ensure that the attacks did not spread elsewhere.

It was learnt that members of the sect had been planning a demonstration in Bauchi for a long time but were not given the chance because of the fear by government that their doctrine, if allowed to be preached publicly, would cause a religious crisis, considering the fact that the teachings were completely contrary to those of other Islamic sects as regards peaceful coexistence.

Nigeria is a secular country with the population evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.

The northern region with 19 out of the country' s 36 states is predominantly Muslim, while Christians dominate the south.

A burnt-out house of Islamist extremists is seen in northern Nigeria on July 30, 2009. More than 600 people have been killed during clashes between Islamist extremists and security forces in a city in northeastern Nigeria, witnesses have said.[Xinhua]

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2009)