Buhari Condemns Boko Haram ‘Heinous’ Attacks
July 4, 2015
ABUJA/MAIDUGURI. — Nigeria’s president has described as a “heinous atrocity” the latest wave of attacks by Boko Haram militants that left more than 150 people dead.
Muhammadu Buhari also called for a faster deployment of a regional military force to fight the Islamists.
The gunmen have been launching attacks on remote villages in the north-eastern Borno State since Tuesday, targeting people attending evening prayers.
Buhari — who was sworn in in May — sees fighting Boko Haram as a priority.
According to Amnesty International, at least 17 000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since 2009, when Boko Haram launched its violent uprising to try to impose militant Islamist rule.
These are the worst Boko Haram attacks for many weeks, BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross reported.
In a statement yesterday, President Buhari said the recent attacks were “inhuman and barbaric”.
He said they were “the last desperate acts of fleeing agents of terrorism”.
The assaults began on Tuesday, when the militants shot dead 48 men after they had finished prayers in two villages near the town of Monguno, a resident told BBC Hausa.
He said he had heard gun shots at one of the villages attacked and saw it on fire.
“They were praying in the mosque when Boko Haram attackers descended on the village. They waited till they finished the prayers. They gathered them in one place, separated men from women and opened fire on them,” he said.
On Wednesday, more than 50 gunmen killed 97 people in the village of Kukawa, near Lake Chad, eyewitness Babami Alhaji Kolo was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
“The terrorists first descended on Muslim worshippers in various mosques who were observing the Maghrib prayer shortly after breaking their fast (for the Muslim month of Ramadan),” he said.
“They opened fire on the worshippers, who were mostly men and young children. They spared nobody.”
On Thursday, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in another Borno village, police said.
BBC’s Will Ross said no-one knows how many people were shot or had their throats slit by the jihadists, who targeted several villages on Tuesday and Wednesday — it is impossible for people who are fleeing for their lives or rushing the injured away in wheelbarrows to stay back and count.
The fact that it took as many as 48 hours for any news of the atrocities to reach the main city in Borno State, Maiduguri, points to just how cut off and vulnerable these communities are.
Boko Haram may no longer hold territory but there is little to celebrate when large swathes of the north-east are clearly not under any kind of government control.
Meanwhile, the militant group beheaded 11 of its own fighters in north-eastern Nigeria, said an official representing witnesses to the killings.
The 11 were executed because they had left a Boko Haram camp in Sambisa Forest and wanted to surrender to the government, said Mahmud Babagana from the National Union of Road Transport Workers, members of which were witnesses to the murders.
“The truth is that many of these guys are tired of killing and are beginning to repent. But (Boko Haram) won’t let them do that,” he added.
The killings took place in Miringa Village in Borno State.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini condemned the killings and expressed confidence that “the Nigerian authorities will continue to fight terrorism with the utmost determination and urgency, respecting rules for engagement.”
Since 2009, Boko Haram has killed more than 10 000 people in northern Nigeria in its campaign to establish an Islamist state.
— AP/dpa.
ABUJA/MAIDUGURI. — Nigeria’s president has described as a “heinous atrocity” the latest wave of attacks by Boko Haram militants that left more than 150 people dead.
Muhammadu Buhari also called for a faster deployment of a regional military force to fight the Islamists.
The gunmen have been launching attacks on remote villages in the north-eastern Borno State since Tuesday, targeting people attending evening prayers.
Buhari — who was sworn in in May — sees fighting Boko Haram as a priority.
According to Amnesty International, at least 17 000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since 2009, when Boko Haram launched its violent uprising to try to impose militant Islamist rule.
These are the worst Boko Haram attacks for many weeks, BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross reported.
In a statement yesterday, President Buhari said the recent attacks were “inhuman and barbaric”.
He said they were “the last desperate acts of fleeing agents of terrorism”.
The assaults began on Tuesday, when the militants shot dead 48 men after they had finished prayers in two villages near the town of Monguno, a resident told BBC Hausa.
He said he had heard gun shots at one of the villages attacked and saw it on fire.
“They were praying in the mosque when Boko Haram attackers descended on the village. They waited till they finished the prayers. They gathered them in one place, separated men from women and opened fire on them,” he said.
On Wednesday, more than 50 gunmen killed 97 people in the village of Kukawa, near Lake Chad, eyewitness Babami Alhaji Kolo was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
“The terrorists first descended on Muslim worshippers in various mosques who were observing the Maghrib prayer shortly after breaking their fast (for the Muslim month of Ramadan),” he said.
“They opened fire on the worshippers, who were mostly men and young children. They spared nobody.”
On Thursday, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in another Borno village, police said.
BBC’s Will Ross said no-one knows how many people were shot or had their throats slit by the jihadists, who targeted several villages on Tuesday and Wednesday — it is impossible for people who are fleeing for their lives or rushing the injured away in wheelbarrows to stay back and count.
The fact that it took as many as 48 hours for any news of the atrocities to reach the main city in Borno State, Maiduguri, points to just how cut off and vulnerable these communities are.
Boko Haram may no longer hold territory but there is little to celebrate when large swathes of the north-east are clearly not under any kind of government control.
Meanwhile, the militant group beheaded 11 of its own fighters in north-eastern Nigeria, said an official representing witnesses to the killings.
The 11 were executed because they had left a Boko Haram camp in Sambisa Forest and wanted to surrender to the government, said Mahmud Babagana from the National Union of Road Transport Workers, members of which were witnesses to the murders.
“The truth is that many of these guys are tired of killing and are beginning to repent. But (Boko Haram) won’t let them do that,” he added.
The killings took place in Miringa Village in Borno State.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini condemned the killings and expressed confidence that “the Nigerian authorities will continue to fight terrorism with the utmost determination and urgency, respecting rules for engagement.”
Since 2009, Boko Haram has killed more than 10 000 people in northern Nigeria in its campaign to establish an Islamist state.
— AP/dpa.
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