Militants slit throats of 15 Christians in Nigeria

Abuja: Suspected Islamic Boko Haram militants have killed 15 Christians by slitting their throats in a village in Nigeria's restive northeast, a relief official said on Sunday. 

The official, on condition of anonymity, said the militants forced their way into some homes identified to be inhabited by Christians in Musari community near Maiduguri city and slit the throat of 15 people. 

Earlier, Lt Col Sagir Musa, a spokesman of the military Joint Task Force deployed by the government to fight terrorism in the area, had given the number of those killed as five. 

But a resident confirmed the number of persons killed by the suspected militants as 15. 

Boko Haram says it is fighting to install Islamic Sharia rule in Africa’s top oil producing country. 

The country though a secular state, has two major religions; Islam and Christianity. Christians are found mainly in the south while Muslims are predominant in the north but they share the 150 million population of the country on roughly equal proportion.

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Kaduna Bombing: Christian Mobs Target Neighbourhood Muslims

Following the attack on a Catholic church in Kaduna, Christian mobs with machetes and sticks has taken to the streets of the city targeting people they suspected to be Muslims.

A French news agency reporter said he saw mobs targeting people who they believed to be Muslims in the neighbourhood of the church.

According to a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, a rescue vehicle was also attacked in the violence after the bombing.

A suicide bomber had earlier slammed a car bomb into St. Rita Catholic Church in Malali, Kaduna during services, killing at least three people, officials said.

A rescue official said “At least three people are confirmed dead.” He added that the death toll included the suspected attacker and that there were a number of injuries.

The neighbourhood shook as the bomb blast has brought up fears of a fresh outbreak of reprisal attacks and clashes between Christians and Muslims.

A spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said it had received reports of a bomb blast in the area of a Catholic church and rushed rescuers to the scene.

“They were talking about a bomb explosion,” said Yushau Shuaib of the reports, while adding that his agency was however seeking to confirm details.

“A number of casualties evacuated to hospitals. The incident was suspected to be triggered by a suicide bomber in a car …”

Residents fear clashes breaking out after the blast that shook the area, between Christians and Muslims, as some say there were reported clashes already.

“There was a loud explosion and I could see smoke on the horizon,” one resident said. Another resident also reported hearing the blast.

Attack by Boko Haram in northern and central Nigeria has led to more than 2,800 deaths since 2009. President Goodluck Jonathan has said the group is seeking to incite a religious crisis in Nigeria.

Nigerians are frustrated with increasing insecurity in the country as insurgency attacks have been happening too often. Worse still, security forces’ inability to stop Boko Haram attacks has increased fears that the violence may continue.

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Gunmen kill 16 worshippers in Deeper Life Church in Kogi

Atleast 16 worshippers lost their lives, Monday evening at a Deeper Life Bible Church situated at Otite in Okehi local government council of Kogi state.

The Commander of Army headquarters Task Force, Lt Colonel Gabriel Olorunyomi, confirmed the incident to our correspondent in Lokoja.

According to Colonel Olorunyomi , “unknown gunmen invaded the Deeper Life Church in this night (Monday) during a worship service and open fire shooting at the worshippers” he said.

He added that 15 people died instantly while the sixteenth person died in the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Military Joint Task Force has cordoned of the area whilst further search are on-going for the perpetrators of the act.

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Gunmen attack Hausa community in Abraka

Tension was high yesterday in Abraka, Delta State as gunmen attacked Hausa community in the town and burnt a mosque. The Delta State Police Command confirmed the attack on the Hausa community but said no life was lost.

According to the head of the Hausa community (Sarkin Hausawa), Alhaji Ali Isa, “The attack took place yesterday at about 12:30am. Some people came and started shooting. Thank God nobody was killed but they burnt one mosque. We are suspecting that the real indigenes were behind the attack.”

Isa said most of the northerners in the town have fled to a police station for fear of being attacked.

Confirming the incident to the BBC Hausa Service monitored in Abuja, police spokesman in the state, ASP Charles, said the attack could be a reprisal following an alleged attack on a woman by some northerners.

He said the woman was killed and her body dumped in a bush. He said three suspects have been arrested.

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The leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist militants defends attacks

Abubakar Shekau said Boko Haram would
 not be defeated by the security forces

The leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist militants has defended recent attacks on Christians, saying they are revenge for killings of Muslims.

In his first video message, posted on YouTube, Abubakar Shekau referred to attacks on Muslims in recent years in several parts of northern Nigeria.

Boko Haram militants attacked several churches on Christmas Day, killing dozens of worshippers.

This has led to some revenge attacks on mosques in the mainly Christian south.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with 160 million people, is divided between a largely Muslim north and a south where most people are Christians and some animists.

Thousands of people have fled their homes following the recent attacks, leading some people, including Nigeria's president and the leader of the country's main Christian organisation, to make comparisons with the 1967-70 civil war when leaders of the south-eastern Igbo ethnic group tried to secede.

Mr Shekau, wearing a red and white turban, a bullet-proof vest and sitting in front of two Kalashnikov rifles, said he was responding to recent statements from Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan and the leader of the country's main Christian organisation, the Christian Association of Nigeria.

He warned President Jonathan that Nigeria's security forces would not be able to defeat the group.

Mr Jonathan, a Christian, has declared a state of emergency in some northern states but the attacks have continued.

On Tuesday night, gunmen opened fire on a bar in the northern state of Yobe, killing eight people, including several police officers.

The president recently said that he suspected some officials, politicians and members of the security forces sympathised with Boko Haram.

Defending the latest spate of violence, Mr Shekau referred to the killing of Muslims in places like Jos, Kaduna, Zangon Kataf, Tafawa Balewa in recent years.

Some of these places have seen bitter communal clashes but correspondents say they are often based on long-standing disputes over resources such as land, or are whipped up by politicians, rather than being based on religious differences.

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said on Saturday that his members would protect themselves against the attacks, which he said suggested "systematic ethnic and religious cleansing".

Mr Shekau said the group could only hold talks with the government in accordance with the teachings of Islam.

He said the group's primary targets remained the security forces, who he said had summarily executed their former leader Mohammed Yusuf after he was arrested in 2009.

After a lull, in 2010 the group started to stage drive-by shootings on government targets in its base in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri.

Last year, it carried out suicide bombings on high-profile targets such as the headquarters of the UN and the police in the capital, Abuja.

source:BBC

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