Chris McManus, a 28 year-old from Oldham, Greater Manchester, was murdered by his captors as commandos from the Special Boat Service SBS and the Nigerian army attempted the rescue. Franco Lamolinara, an Italian colleague of Mr McManus, was also killed. The SBS squadron killed at least two of the terrorists — members of a jihadi group associated with al-Qaeda — during the daylight raid on a house in the northern city of Sokoto, Ministry of Defence sources said. The Nigerian government said last night that the two suspected killers of the hostages had been captured. David Cameron authorised the operation on Thursday morning after being informed that the hostages, whose location had only recently been discovered, were at risk of being moved and murdered. This followed demands from the kidnappers for the Nigerian government to release prisoners.

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