The Boko Haram Thread

Death Toll Rises to 60 in Boko Haram attack

The death toll from a weekend attack by extremist Islamist sect Boko Haram in north-eastern Nigeria has risen to 60, local media reported Tuesday.

The attack on Muslim worshippers at a mosque in Konduga village, near Borno's state capital Maiduguri, only became known late Monday.

Authorities initially reported 44 deaths and scores injured.

Military authorities in the north-western state of Sokoto said they apprehended 20 Boko Harem members, including one of its kingpins, Malam Mubarak.

The suspects are being interrogated to establish if they were involved in the Borno attack, said Sokoto military spokesperson Musa Yahay.

Nigerian security agencies are on high alert following intelligence reports that said Boko Haram planned to carry out bombings after the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, on August 7.

Borno is one of three northern states that Nigeria's government placed under a state of emergency in May to curb violent attacks by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram - which means "western education is sinful" and intends to implement Islamic law in Nigeria - has flourished due to growing discontent in the West African country, especially among minorities and the rural poor.


Source : Sapa-dpa /pk
Date : 13 Aug 2013 10:09
 
Nigeria says Boko Haram second in command leader killed

Nigeria's military on Wednesday said it had killed the second-in-command of Islamist group Boko Haram while repelling an insurgent attack earlier this month.

"During the Boko Haram terrorists' attack... on 4 August, 2013 (troops) killed Momodu Bama (alias) Abu Saad," a statement said, identifying him as the "second-in-command" to insurgent chief Abubakar Shekau.


Source : Sapa-AFP /sdv
Date : 14 Aug 2013 15:47
 
Islamic Militants kill 13 in Northeastern Nigeria

A Nigerian legislator and a survivor say suspected Islamic militants have killed 13 people in an attack on a northeast village near where a massacre occurred at a mosque.

Legislator Ayamu Lawan Gwasha said security forces repelled gunmen who attacked the police station and a military post in Damboa, 85 kilometers (50 miles) from Borno state capital Maiduguri, on Thursday night.

Farmer Mustapha Aji said other militants gunned down villagers and firebombed about 20 homes. He said villagers had feared an attack since extremists gunned down 47 worshippers at a mosque in Konduga village Sunday. They had asked for more security, but it hadn't yet arrived.

Northeast Nigeria confronts an uprising by Islamic extremists who want an Islamic state in the secular country divided about equally between Christians and Muslims.


Source : Sapa-AP /kn
Date : 16 Aug 2013 20:58
 
Boko Haram leader may be dead, Nigerian Military claims

The Nigerian military has said that terrorist leader Abubakar Shekau of Islamist sect Boko Haram "may have died."

Shekau may have died of injuries suffered during an attack in June on Boko Haram in Borno State's Sambisa forest, newspaper This Day reported Tuesday citing a military statement.

He was then taken to neighbouring Cameroon, the report said.

Shekau is wanted internationally, and the United States offered a 7-million-dollar reward for his capture in June.

"Intelligence reports available to the Joint Task Force, Operation Restore Order, revealed that Abubakar Shekau, the most dreaded and wanted Boko Haram terrorist leader, may have died," said Sagir Musa, the JTF spokesman in north-eastern Borno State.

But earlier this month, Boko Haram released a video of Shekau in which he claims responsibility for two attacks on military camps in Mallam Fatori in Borno State on August 4 and calls for war against Nigeria and the US.

Borno is one of three northern states that the government placed under a state of emergency in May to curb attacks by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sinful," has been active in the Muslim north of the West African country, regularly carrying out attacks aimed primarily at Christians.

Since 2009, about 1,500 people have been killed in the attacks. Boko Haram has been fighting for an Islamic state in the region.


Source : Sapa-dpa /pk
Date : 20 Aug 2013 10:06
 
Attacks on Young Vigilantes kills 20

Two attacks by suspected members of a Nigerian Islamic sect have killed at least 20 members of a vigilante group out to fight the sect, residents and an official said Tuesday.

Insurgents crept up on six members of the group known as the Civilian Joint Task Force who were sleeping in a northeastern village. The suspected insurgents then shot them Monday night, a military official said. Four gunmen carried out that attack, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to speak to the press.

"The attack took place in the border town of Damasak, 187 kilometers (116 miles) away from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and birthplace of the Boko Haram ideology," he said. "The report we got from Damasak confirmed that the six members of the vigilante group were also jewelry vendors who took time off to attend the weekly Damasak Market to sell their wares," he said, adding that the sect members then trailed them to where they were sleeping.

The deaths were confirmed by Civilian-JTF official Abubakar Malum, who said the men ranged in age from 20 to 36 years old.

An Associated Press reporter saw the bodies were packed up in a pick-up truck on Tuesday at one of JTF's headquarters in Maiduguri.

The attack came less than two days after suspected Boko Haram members killed 14 young vigilantes in neighboring Bama, just 87 kilometers (54 miles) from Maiduguri, the military official said.

The attackers stormed the town disguised in military uniforms and "they used knives instead of guns to prevent the military from hearing the gunshots," and decapitated the young men, he said.

Local grocer Masta'a Ajimi, who claimed to have escaped from Bama on Monday morning after spending the night in the bushes, said "we thought they were real soldiers but later noticed they were Boko Haram. They were armed and they were many, I had to escape through the bush after seeing how they were forcefully slitting people's necks." This new strategy was also used in an attack last week in Dumba village in Borno state.

Bama's local council chairman, Baba Shehu Gulumba, earlier told journalists that insurgents "disguised as soldiers lured the youths into a trap." He said nine others were wounded.

"They were on guard duty when the sect members dressed in military camouflage came and told them that they were needed at a meeting nearby," he said. "When they had been lured away from their duty posts they were then attacked and killed."

The Civilian-JTF group has taken over in the search for the insurgents in the troubled city of Maiduguri, and most Boko Haram members have since relocated to the surrounding bushes though they continue to kill locals. The vigilante force has arisen in northeast Nigeria as a backlash against Boko Haram, and the group claims credit for thousands of arrests in Maiduguri, where Boko Haram started.

Many residents welcome the vigilantes and credit them for some relative peace in Maiduguri. Others find their existence troubling and worry that they may perpetrate human rights abuses.

Bama, a once boisterous commercial hub and border settlement, has suffered major attacks in the past few months. Suspected Islamic extremists killed at least 47 worshippers at a mosque in Bama about two weeks ago. The town is surrounded by Sambisa forest which is where Boko Haram members are believed to be hiding.

Since 2010, more than 1,700 people have been killed in attacks by the group known as Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden," and which wants to impose Islamic Shariah law in all of Nigeria,

The U.S. on Monday condemned the killings in Dumba and on the mosque.

"The United States stands with the people of Nigeria to reject the indiscriminate attacks on worshippers of all faiths," it said in a statement by Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf. "We also deplore the extra-judicial executions of suspected Boko Haram members by any group, including vigilante mobs."

"We support the government of Nigeria as it seeks to safeguard civilians and hold accountable all those responsible for violence through a process that protects civilians and respects the rule of law," it said.


Source : Sapa-AP /kn
Date : 28 Aug 2013 00:18
 
Clashes between boko haram and Nigeria vigilantes kills 18

Clashes Sunday in Nigeria's restive northeast killed five Boko Haram Islamists and 13 fighters from a vigilante group which has fought a series of recent battles with the Islamists, a state government official said.

Members of the civilian militia heard that Islamists were planning to attack the town of Benishiek in Borno state, Boko Haram's historic stronghold, said Garba Ngamdu, an aide to the state governor.

The Islamists arrived in the early hours of Sunday morning and a gunfight broke out, Ngamdu added, in accounts corroborated by several vigilante fighters.

"The youths (vigilantes) in Benishiek lost 13 of their members. Twelve died when they were ambushed around 12:30 am (2330 GMT Saturday) and another one died in the hospital," he said.

He added that five Boko Haram fighters were also killed.

The governor's aide and wounded vigilante fighters described the clashes to journalists in the Borno state capital Maiduguri, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) from Benishiek.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mm
Date : 08 Sep 2013 20:20
 
Nigeria attack kills 13 vigilantes, 5 sect members

An attack by suspected Islamic sect members on a town guarded by a vigilante group in northeast Nigeria on Sunday killed at least 18 people and injured 17, residents and a government official said.

The attack in Benisheik, 72 kilometers (45 miles) west of Maiduguri, the birthplace of the Boko Haram network, took place days after the military said it killed at least 50 insurgents in an area to the north.

Zannah Fannami, a 27-year-old operative with the Civilian Joint Task Force vigilante group, said its members were attacked while awaiting Boko Haram's approach on the town.

"We heard that they would be coming since Friday and had been keeping vigil all nights," he said from the University of Maiduguri hospital while being treated for a bullet to his right thigh. Late Saturday night, "when we least expected it, we heard a thunderous sound like that of a bomb coming from the direction of a soldiers' post, then we decided to advance toward the sound and the Boko Haram gunmen, carrying sophisticated arms, opened fire on us, killing 12 of our members."

He said the vigilante group, which formed to fight the Boko Haram network, was able to kill five of the Islamic sect members and take possession of four AK-47 rifles.

Another injured Civilian-JTF operative, 32-year-old Muhammed Abuwar, said: "The military had agreed to watch and lay in ambush with us against the Boko Haram, but when the attackers came, none of them came over to assist us. Most of the Boko Haram shooters were shooting from atop trees."

The military has agreed to support any missions by the Civilian-JTF until its newest 7th Division fully formed to fight Boko Haram is fully functional. Though the military could not be immediately reached for comment, the road leading to Benisheik was barricaded Sunday and helicopter gunships were seen flying toward the attacked town.

A top Borno state government labor adviser, Garba Ngamdu, who also hails from Benisheik, said one of vigilante members had died in the hospital as doctors tried to remove bullets from his body.

He also confirmed the death of the five Boko Haram members at the hands of vigilante members with machetes and said their dead bodies still lay on the outskirts of the town.

Benisheik is a scanty linear settlement of staple crop farmers of not more than 1,000 houses, mostly made of mud.

There has been a rash of attacks by suspected sect members in northeast Nigeria recently, after young vigilantes formed the Civilian-JTF in June, taking over the search for the insurgents. The vigilante force claims credit for thousands of arrests in Maiduguri and many killings.


Source : Sapa-AP /mm
Date : 08 Sep 2013 21:03
 
Nigerian Troops kill ten insurgents after air strike: Army

Nigerian troops launched an air strike and later killed 10 suspected members of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram in a clash in the country's restive northeast, the military said Wednesday.

The military said troops clashed with "fleeing Boko Haram terrorists" late Tuesday following the destruction of two alleged Boko Haram camps in the Konduga area of Borno state.

Details were unclear on the air strike and other aspects of the raid. Nigeria's military has previously used air power since launching an offensive in May aiming to end Boko Haram's four-year insurgency.

The clash followed an "air strike and subsequent destruction of two Boko Haram terrorist camps at Mada, Konduga local government area of Borno state," Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa said in a statement.

It occurred on the road as troops were travelling to the town of Biu and "had an encounter with fleeing Boko Haram terrorists," it said.

"Ten terrorists lost their lives and some ammunition, including four AK-47 rifles, five AK-47 magazines and 250 rounds of assorted ammunition, were recovered," the statement said.

"Ten motorcycles belonging to the sect members were destroyed in the air and land raid."

Boko Haram's insurgency has left more than 3,600 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces, who have been accused of major abuses.

Konduga has been the scene of previous violence. On August 10 and 11, suspected Boko Haram members stormed a mosque in Konduga and shot dead 44 worshippers as well as 12 other people in a nearby village.

Much of the recent violence attributed to Boko Haram is said to have occurred in revenge over residents forming vigilante groups to help the military track down insurgents.

It also appears to have shifted from cities to more remote areas of the northeast.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ss
Date : 11 Sep 2013 23:25
 
16 Soldiers, 150 Boko Haram Members Killed in Northern Nigeria

In a fresh attack against extremist Islamist sect Boko Haram, 16 Nigerian soldiers and 150 sect members, including a top commander, were killed in the northern state of Borno, local newspaper Vanguard reported Wednesday.

Nigeria's army attacked a group of insurgents at Kafiya forest, between the towns of Maiduguri and Baga in Borno state, acting on an intelligence report that Boko Haram was planning an attack, according to army spokesperson Brigadier General Ibrahim Attahiru.

The incident took place on the weekend, but the army only released the information late on Tuesday.

"The troops launched an attack and destroyed the enemy camp, and during the encounter that lasted several hours, the troops killed 150 insurgents while one lieutenant and 15 soldiers lost their lives," Attahiru told journalists.

Among the insurgents killed was Abba Goroma, one of the most wanted Boko Haram commanders on whose head government had placed a 615,000 dollar bounty.

Soldiers found anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns mounted on vehicles in the Boko Haram camp, according to the army spokesperson.

Borno is one of three northern states that the government placed under emergency regulations in May to curb attacks by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sinful," has been active in the Muslim north of the West African country, regularly carrying out attacks aimed primarily at Christians.

Since 2009, about 1,500 people have been killed in the violence.

Source : Sapa-dpa /pk
Date : 18 Sep 2013 09:43
 
Nigerian Army claims raid killed 150 insurgents

A military strike on a Boko Haram camp in Nigeria's restive northeast last week left about 150 Islamists and 16 soldiers dead, the army said Wednesday, amid reports of dozens of troops killed.

The army's claim of a major offensive against the Islamist insurgents on September 12 came after local media reported that Boko Haram had ambushed a group of soldiers in the same area, killing 40 and leaving dozens of others missing.

Military officials were not available to comment on the reported Boko Haram ambush, speaking only about the purported military strike.

Details of last week's military operation had not been previously made public.

"It was a highly fortified insurgent camp with heavy weapons in (northeastern) Borno State," army spokesman Ibrahim Attahiru said, adding that the camp was in the Kasiya forest.

"The army raided the camp on September 12. Some 150 Boko Haram terrorists were killed, while the military lost 16 soldiers. Nine soldiers are still missing," he told AFP.

The forest where the alleged raid occurred is some 70 kilometres (43 miles) northeast of Borno's capital Maiduguri, the city where Boko Haram was founded more than a decade ago.

The area surrounding Kasiya had acquired a reputation for armed robbery.

There has been speculation that Boko Haram had strengthened its presence in the remote area in recent months, several people familiar with the region told AFP.

Borno was placed under a state of emergency in mid-May, when the military shut down the mobile phone network to block Islamists from coordinating attacks amid an operation aimed at crushing the insurgency.

With the communication network switched off, details of attacks have been slow to emerge and difficult to verify.

Residents, victims as well as local political leaders have been largely unreachable, with military statements forming the main source of information in the ongoing offensive against Boko Haram.

The military has claimed major successes in the operation, describing the insurgents as being in disarray.

There are indications that Boko Haram attacks, which were previously carried out across northern Nigeria, have been partly contained in the northeast, especially Borno state, the group's historic stronghold.

If confirmed however, Boko Haram's reported ambush on the military would cast doubt on claims that the insurgents' capacity to attack has been curbed.

According to local media, the alleged Boko Haram ambush happened in the northeastern corner of Borno state, towards the border with Chad.

Widely read Punch newspaper, citing a high-ranking military source, said the military failed to send aerial support for the soldiers who were ambushed.

According to the paper, the failure to send air support has led to anger among soldiers involved in the pursuit of Boko Haram.

Since the offensive was launched, Boko Haram has been blamed for massacres that left dozens of students of dead, as well as the mass killing of Muslims gathering for morning prayers, among other attacks.

The Islamists have also repeatedly clashed with vigilante groups which have formed in Borno.

Boko Haram has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, but its aims have shifted and the group is believed to consist of different factions.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer, with a mostly Christian south and a predominately Muslim north.


Source : Sapa-AFP /sdv
Date : 18 Sep 2013 12:35
 
Boko Haram Attack on Nigerian Town Kills at least 87: Official

A gruesome attack by Boko Haram Islamists disguised in military uniforms in Nigeria's northeast has killed at least 87 people, a state government official said Thursday.

The Islamist insurgents also burnt scores of homes and buildings in the late Tuesday attack. They set up checkpoints and gunned down motorists who tried to flee, according to multiple witness accounts.

"Eighty-seven bodies were recovered in the bush and our people are still searching for more," Saidu Yakubu of the Environmental Protection Agency in northeastern Borno state told journalists.

He briefed reporters who accompanied Borno's Governor Kashim Shettima to the scene of the massacre.

Details of the attack in the town which has been previously been targeted by Boko Haram first emerged Wednesday.

The phone network in Borno has been down since the middle of May when Nigeria imposed a state of emergency across much of the northeast amid a military offensive aimed at crushing Boko Haram's four-year insurgency.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 19 Sep 2013 22:37
 
143 People killed by Extremists in Nigeria

Searching roadsides, bushes and fields, environmental agency workers have recovered the bodies of 143 civilians killed by suspected extremists, an official said of one of the highest death tolls in an Islamic uprising in northeast Nigeria.

Two soldiers and three police officers also were killed, according to a soldier who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press during a visit Thursday with Borno state Gov. Kashim Shettima, who was under heavy military protection.

The private said extremists disguised in military fatigues attacked in about 20 pickup trucks and two light tanks firing anti-aircraft guns that overwhelmed soldiers armed only with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

He indicated that the soldiers actually led the attackers to the village.

"We had to retreat to our base to reinforce after running out of ammunition. We had to run for our lives," said the private, who said he hid in a millet plantation. "But they followed us down and surrounded our base and began to shell our building. We couldn't stand the heat of their superior firepower. We had to retreat into the village after they killed two of our soldiers and three policemen."

He said the attackers finally retreated in triumph, taking off with an additional four military patrol trucks and two light armored tanks.

Such accounts challenge the Nigerian military's insistence that it is winning the war since a state of emergency was declared May 14 to put down the insurrection by extremists who want to enforce strict Shariah law throughout Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of more than 160 million people almost equally divided between Muslims and Christians.

An AP reporter watched as Environmental Department workers piled corpses swollen by the tropical heat into trucks at the near-deserted village where hundreds of homes had been torched.

"We have been picking corpses off the roadsides all day, there are more in the bush ... We have so far picked up 143 corpses," said Abdulazeez Kolomi, an assistant at the Environmental Protection Agency.

The agency's chief, Saidu Yakubu, told reporters the official numbers of corpses evacuated was 87.

Women and children were being helped to clamber up into other vehicles as villagers continued to flee their homes.

"Our houses have been burned, we lack food to eat, we have been sleeping in the bush and cannot bear the hardship with the children crying," said 56-year-old Kaltume Baba-Haruna.

The few remaining residents said they are angry at both the government and the military for not protecting them.

Villager Abacha Wakil said the gunmen invaded the town at about 7.45 p.m. Tuesday and did not leave until about 3.30 a.m. When they ventured back to the village from the bushes where they spent the night they discovered the beheaded bodies of 14 young men, most belonging to a vigilante group set up to fight the extremists, he said.

Gov. Shettima promised to spend 50 million naira (about $312,000) to rebuild the destroyed village. And he gave families of the 14 killed vigilantes compensation of 25,000 naira ($1,500) each.

Army Brig. Gen. Muhammed Idris Yusuf pleaded with the villagers to not lose confidence in the military. "We share your pain and we promise to beef up the presence of soldiers around Benisheik," he said. "We have not abandoned you as you think: Our troops ran out of ammunition and that was why they withdrew to reinforce. They are now back and more are coming," he promised.


Source : Sapa-AP /ma
Date : 20 Sep 2013 13:44
 
Nigeria Forces Boko Haram Exchange Gunfire in Capital

Boko Haram Islamists opened fire Friday on security agents conducting an operation near a residence for lawmakers in Nigeria's capital Abuja, starting a gunfight that caused deaths and injuries, the intelligence branch and police said.

Following a tipoff from arrested Boko Haram fighters, security forces headed to a purported weapons cache behind the building in Abuja's Apo neighbourhood, said Marilyn Ogar, spokeswoman for the Department of State Services.

Shortly after midnight they started "digging for the arms", Ogar said in a statement from the intelligence branch.

They then "came under heavy gunfire attack by... Boko Haram elements within the area, which prompted immediate response from the security team," she said.

"Some persons were injured and 12 others were arrested in connection with the incident," Ogar added.

Police spokeswoman for Abuja, Hyelhira Altine Daniel, told AFP that "deaths have been recorded," following the incident, but declined to provide figures.

Ogar later told AFP that she was not yet able to confirm fatalities.

Boko Haram, which claims it wants to set up an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has previously attacked Abuja in the centre of the country, including bombings at a United Nations building, newspaper offices and a shopping mall.

The capital was placed under tight security after the August 2011 UN bombing, with military checkpoints in place around most government buildings.

Attacks in Abuja had however declined dramatically in recent months.

Most of Boko Haram's recent assaults have been concentrated in the northeast, the group's stronghold, with civilians in remote areas the most common targets.

Heavily-armed Islamists stormed the town of Benisheik in the northeast late Tuesday, setting up roadblocks and gunning down motorists and travellers who tried to pass through.

Scores of buildings were also burnt in the assault that left 87 people dead, according to an official in northeastern Borno State.

The military in mid-May launched a major offensive against Boko Haram, aiming to crush the group's four-year insurgency.

While the military has boasted major successes in the operation, the gun battle in the capital as well the spate of other recent attacks casts doubt on claims that the Islamists are in disarray and incapable of attacking prominent areas.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and top oil producer, but poverty remains rampant despite the country's vast resource wealth.

A US delegation that visited Nigeria last month said Boko Haram's four-year insurgency had scared off investors and curbed development.

Renewed attacks in the capital would likely further create cracks in official claims that the Boko Haram threat has been contained.

The conflict is estimated to have left more than 3,600 dead since 2009, including killings by the security services.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ma
Date : 20 Sep 2013 15:48
 
Attackers kill Pastor, Torch Church in Nigeria

Police say suspected Islamic militants armed with automatic rifles and explosives killed a pastor and his son and torched a church in northeast Nigeria before dawn Thursday.

Corporal Musa Ibrahim said the attackers also killed the village head at Dorawa, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Yobe state school where extremists in July killed 29 students, some burned alive.

Ibrahim said gunmen used explosives to set ablaze the church and five homes.

Yobe is one of three northeastern states under a military emergency to try to halt an Islamic uprising by militants who have killed more than 1,700 people since 2010 in their quest to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state and ban Western education though the country of 160 million people has as many Christians as Muslims.


Source : Sapa-AP /pk
Date : 26 Sep 2013 11:46
 
Nigeria Army verifying credibility of new Boko Haram video

Nigeria's army said Thursday it was trying to verify the authenticity of a video that appeared to show Boko Haram's leader mocking reports that he may have been killed.

A security task force last month said wanted Islamist insurgent commander Abubakar Shekau "may have died" from a gunshot wound after a clash with soldiers on June 30.

In a video seen by AFP Wednesday, a man resembling past images of Shekau taunted the regional military spokesman who suggested he had been killed.

"We cannot say at this juncture whether the claim is true or false until we authenticate the veracity of the video," army spokesman Ibrahim Attahiru told AFP.

"The army authorities have to verify the claim. This is precisely what we are doing," he said.

The initial statement concerning Shekau's possible death came from a military spokesman based in the northeast, Boko Haram's stronghold.

National defence spokesman Chris Olukolade has told AFP that statement may have been issued prematurely and that the military lacked definitive proof of Shekau's death.

Shekau has been declared a global terrorist by the United States, which put a $7 million bounty (5.2 million euros) on his head.

He leads an Islamist group which has been blamed for scores of deadly attacks across northern and central Nigeria.

It was not clear when or where the latest video was recorded, but in it Shekau claims recent attacks in the northeast.

"I want the whole world to know that I'm alive by the grace of Allah," he says in the Hausa language.

Boko Haram has said its four-year insurgency is aimed at creating an Islamic state in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north.

Nigeria in mid-May imposed a state of emergency across most of the restive northeast and launched an ongoing offensive aimed at crushing the insurgency.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mom
Date : 26 Sep 2013 12:57
 
At least 28 dead in Nigeria college shooting: Hospital Source

An attack Sunday by Boko Haram Islamists who opened fire on students while they were sleeping in a college dormitory has killed at least 28 people, a hospital source told AFP.

"We have so far received 28 bodies. We have been asked to expect more," said the official at the Damaturu Specialist Hospital, referring to those killed at the College of Agriculture in Gujba, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from Damaturu, capital of the northeastern Yobe state.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kn
Date : 29 Sep 2013 13:53
 
Boko Haram gunmen on Sunday stormed a college dormitory in Nigeria's conflict-scarred northeast, firing on students as they slept, the military told AFP, in the latest such attack blamed on the Islamist insurgents.

Security forces were at the scene but details on the number of dead and injured were not yet available, area military spokesman Lazarus Eli said.

The early morning assault targeted the College of Agriculture in the town of Gujba in Yobe state, Eli said.

It was carried out by "Boko Haram terrorists who went into the school and opened fire on students," while they were sleeping, he added.

A police source, who requested anonymity, told AFP that initial reports indicated the death toll could be high but he was not prepared to discuss figures.

Gujba is roughly 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the state capital of Damaturu.

Yobe has seen a series of brutal attacks targeting students in recent months, all blamed on Boko Haram.

The worst occurred in July in the town of Mamudo, where the Islamists threw explosives and sprayed gunfire into dormitories in the middle of the night, killing 41 students.

The name Boko Haram means 'Western education is forbidden' and the group has repeatedly attacked schools, universities and colleges during its four-year insurgency.

The military has described the spate of recent school attacks as a sign of desperation by the Islamists, claiming they only have the capacity to hit soft targets.

The defence ministry has said that an offensive launched against Boko Haram in mid-May has decimated the group and scattered their fighters across remote parts of the northeast.

While many of the recent attacks have occurred in more remote areas, often targeting defenceless civilians, the unchecked killing has cast doubt on the success of the military's campaign.

The northeast remains under a state of emergency imposed on May 14.

Scores have been killed this month, including in the northeastern town of Benisheik in Borno state, where at least 142 people were slaughtered by presumed Boko Haram fighters who came disguised as soldiers, set up checkpoints and fired on motorists and bystanders.

Some of the recent violence has targeted vigilante groups which have formed to help the military.

Boko Haram has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, but the group is believed to made up of different factions with varying aims.

A toll earlier this year said the conflict is estimated to have cost more than 3,600 lives, including killings by the security forces. The current figure is likely much higher.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and top oil producer.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kn
Date : 29 Sep 2013 13:19
 
Nigeria accused of 'lacking vision' in dealing with terrorists

Nigeria's former vice president has accused the government of inefficiently managing the threat of terrorism, after militants killed 40 agricultural students in the country's north.

"We must urgently review our strategy for confronting these cowards. We need to rethink how we provide security for our nation," Atiku Abubakar said in a statement quoted Monday by local newspaper Vanguard.

Abubakar said he was "deeply saddened" by the "senseless murders" of dozens of students, gunned down while sleeping in their college dorm in Gujba in Yobe state over the weekend.

"Nigerians have lost faith in their government because of this lack of vision in the management of the nation's political, economic and social affairs," he added.

Yobe is one of three northern states that the government placed under emergency regulations in May to curb attacks by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sinful," has been active in the Muslim north of the West African country, regularly carrying out attacks aimed primarily at Christians.

Since 2009, more than 1,500 people have been killed in the violence.


Source : Sapa-dpa /pk
Date : 30 Sep 2013 10:09
 
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