In yet another bizarre
occurrence, suspected
members of the violent
Islamic sect, Boko Haram,
have reportedly gunned down
44 people praying in a
mosque in Borno State.
Agency reports on Monday indicated that the killings
occurred on Sunday morning at a mosque in Konduga town,
about 35 kilometres outside Maiduguri, the Borno State
capital city.
A State Security Service agent and a member of a
vigilante group working with the military told
the Associated Press on Monday that they counted the
bodies at the mosque after the attack.
A member of the vigilante group, Usman Musa, said four
of his colleagues were killed when they responded to calls
for help.
Musa said the vigilantes encountered “fierce resistance
from heavily armed terrorists,” along the way from
Maiduguri to Konduga.
The state security agent spoke on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorised to talk to reporters.
Musa and the security service agent said the attackers
wore military camouflage uniforms used by the Nigerian
army, which they might have acquired in one of their
attacks on military bases.
On their way back from Konduga, the security forces
came upon the scene of another attack at Ngom village,
five kilometers outside Maiduguri, where Musa said he
counted 12 bodies of civilians.
Twenty-six worshippers at the mosque were hospitalised
with gunshot wounds, said a security guard at the
emergency ward of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. He and
the state security agent both spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not allowed to give
information to reporters.
Agency reports also indicated that the leader of the Boko
Haram sect, Ibrahim Shekau, boasted in a video that his
members had killed many soldiers.
In a video received by journalists Monday, Shekau
reportedly brushed off any gains asserted by the
security forces.
They were killed as they said their prayers in a mosque in
Borno yesterday
“You soldiers have claimed that you are powerful, that we
have been defeated, that we are mad people,” Shekau
said in the local Hausa language.
He added, “But how can a mad man successfully
coordinate recent attacks in Gamboru, in Malam Fatori,
slaughter people in Biu, kill in Gwoza and in Bama, where
soldiers fled under our heavy fire power?
“We have killed countless soldiers and we are going to kill
more. We can now comfortably confront the United
States of America.”
On Christmas Day in 2011, Boko Haram members attacked
St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger State,
killing at least 43 parishioners.
When our correspondent contacted the Director of
Defence Information, Brig.-Gen Chris Olukolade, he said
that he was not aware of the killings in the Borno mosque.
“I am not aware of this incident. I have not received any
official briefing on this incident you are talking about,”
Olukolade said.
The violent sect has been responsible for at least 2,000
deaths since 2009 when it began a violent campaign
against the Federal Government and its varied targets
have included churches, mosques, drinking joints, military
and police facilities.
Just last week, the terrorists attacked a barricade
mounted by the Joint Military Task Force in Gonori, Yobe
State, killing six soldiers and two policemen.
A state of emergency to curb the sect has been on in
Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states since May 14.
Meanwhile, the United States government has said that it
has sent out invitations to some of the 19 governors in
northern Nigeria to deliberate on ending the Boko Haram
insurgency.
The US Mission in Nigeria said a senior delegation from
the US State Department expected in the country for
the 9th meeting of the US-Nigeria Bi-National
Commission, scheduled for Abuja on August 15, would
hold discussions with the governors.
United States Consul-General, Mr. Jeffrey Hawkins,
stated this during a “Roundtable with Opinion Leaders on
the US-Nigeria Bilateral Relationships” in Lagos on
Monday.
Hawkins said the rationale behind the planned meeting
was to have the “inputs’’ of the governors as part of
efforts by the White House to collaborate with the
Nigerian government in ending terrorism in the country.
He added that the discussions with the governors would
involve the leader of the American delegation, the United
States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs,
Wendy Sherman; an Assistant Secretary in the US
Department of Defence, high ranking Deputy Assistant
Secretaries of States from the State Department, and
officials from the US-Africa Command among others.
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