Nigeria: al-Qaeda-linked group gives Christians 3-day deadline

[hembo]

Nigeria: al-Qaeda-linked group gives Christians 3-day deadline

An al-Qaeda linked terrorist group has escalated its threats to foment civil war in Nigeria by handing out a three day deadline to leave to Christians before it launches an offensive against government troops.
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By Laura Heaton in Nairobi 5:29PM GMT 02 Jan 2012

Boko Haram warned Christians living in the country's predominantly Muslim north that they have three days to "move away," before attacks target the community.

Abul Qada, the spokesman who claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day bombings on behalf of the group, threatened Nigerian soldiers deployed to quell violence in the north.

"We find it pertinent to state that soldiers will only kill innocent Muslims in the local government areas where the state of emergency was declared," Abul Qada said. "We would confront them squarely to protect our brothers."

President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in four areas hardest hit by spiraling violence on Saturday.

The president vowed to "crush" the insurgency, which has "shaken the foundations of our corporate existence as a nation."

Under the president's orders, security forces operating in Borno, Plateau, Niger, and Yobe state were given expanded powers to make arrests and conduct searches in an effort to track down Boko Haram affiliates.

Nigerian security forces have arrested "hundreds" of "foot soldiers" in connection with bombings that left at left at least 40 people dead and dozens more injured last weekend, the police chief said last Thursday. But the masterminds of the violence remain at-large.

Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language, has staged attacks in Nigeria since 2009.

The head of the Christian Association of Nigeria condemned the government for its failure to make a "convincing high profile arrest" to demonstrate its intent to curtail the group.

An opposition group claimed it would be "futile" to expect Jonathan's administration to find a lasting solution to the security challenge on its own.

The Action Congress of Nigeria said Sunday that President Jonathan's state of emergency would need to be supplemented by a mobilisation of other segments of society against Boko Haram.

"It is like the way armed robberies have continued despite the numerous road blocks dotting the country. The robbers simply avoid the road blocks on their way to carrying out their nefarious activities," said Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party's national publicity secretary.

"We don't have to wait until the entire country is put under emergency rule," Mohammed said, calling for the government to convene a security summit that would draw together political, religious and traditional leaders from around the country.

"If we all fail to act now, no one will be spared of the consequences, irrespective of their party affiliation or religious leaning," Mohammed said.

Attacks by Boko Haram claimed at least 500 lives in 2011, including scores of Nigerian soldiers and police.

But the group's recent targeting of civilians and high profile targets raise concerns both about the group's interest in sparking wider religious conflict in the country and its links to other Al-Qaeda affiliates in the region.

An August attack on the UN headquarters in the capital of Abuja killed 23.

 

[notsuperstitious]

BBC News - Nigeria church hit by deadly gun attack

Gunmen have attacked a church in north-east Nigeria, killing at least six people, the church's pastor says.

Johnson Jauro said the killings took place when gunmen burst into his Deeper Life Church in Gombe, capital of Gombe state.

He said his wife was among those killed. Ten other people were injured.

Nigeria has recently experienced a surge in ethnic and sectarian violence. The government declared a state of emergency in parts of the country.

"The attackers started shooting sporadically. They shot through the window of the church, and many people were killed including my wife," Mr Jauro told Reuters news agency.

"Many members who attended the church service were also injured."

No group said it carried out the attack, but the Islamist group Boko Haram recently carried out a string of bombings on Christmas Day, including against a church in the capital Abuja which killed dozens of people.

Earlier on Thursday, two suspected members of Boko Haram were arrested after a father and son were killed in Maiduguri in neighbouring Borno state.

Escalating violence

Attacks by Boko Haram have become increasingly frequent and are a major problem for the Nigerian authorities.


The wave of Islamist violence is one of the biggest problems faced by President Goodluck Jonathan President Goodluck Jonathan has vowed to "crush" the group.

Several northern states surrounding Gombe have had their borders sealed off under the state of emergency declared by Mr Jonathan following the Christmas bombings.

Boko Haram is fighting to create an Islamic state and wants to impose Sharia law across Nigeria.

Followers of Boko Haram believe any political or social activity associated with Western values should be banned.

This includes voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers and receiving a secular education.

Boko Haram regards the Nigerian state as being run by non-believers and this was the case even when the country had a Muslim president.

In unrelated violence on Sunday, at least 50 people died in the eastern state of Ebony in clashes between two ethnic groups over a land dispute.

 

[Black Widow]

Nothing new, conversion war in Africa is old story..... Like Sudan Nigeria too will be partitioned (North for Muslim south for cristians)

 

[notsuperstitious]

BBC News - Nigeria Christians hit by fresh Islamist attacks

Nigeria has been hit by a fresh wave of violence apparently targeting the country's Christian communities.

At least 17 people were killed in Mubi in Adamawa state as gunmen opened fire in a town hall where members of the Christian Igbo group were meeting.

There were also reports of a deadly attack in Adamawa's capital, Yola.

The Islamist Boko Haram group said it had carried out the attack in Mubi and another in Gombe on Thursday night in which at least six people died.

The group has staged numerous attacks in northern and central areas in recent months - on Christmas Day it attacked a church near the capital, Abuja, killing dozens of people.

One Boko Haram faction has warned all southerners - who are mostly Christian and animist - to leave the mainly Muslim north of Nigeria.

Adamawa state borders Borno state, where Boko Haram emerged.

Last week President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Yobe and Borno states, as well as Plateau state in central Nigeria and Niger state in the west, following a surge in ethnic and sectarian violence.

But the pace of attacks has increased and he must now consider whether to extend the state of emergency into other states and beef up the military presence in the north in response, says the BBC's Mark Lobel in Lagos.

Meanwhile, the government is also facing the bleak prospect of a general strike in two days' time amid popular fury over its removal of a fuel subsidy which has seen fuel prices double for ordinary Nigerians.

'Planning to flee'

They had been meeting to organise how to transport the body of an Igbo man who was shot dead by gunmen on motorbikes on Thursday evening.

"It was while they were holding the meeting that gunmen came and opened fire on them," a resident said.

Witnesses said gunmen burst into the hall and shouted "God is great" as they opened fire.

Members of the Igbo community in northern Nigeria often own shops and businesses, but the BBC's Abdullahi Tasiu in Yola says many Igbo traders in Mubi town are reported to have closed their shops and be planning to flee the area.

'Extending out frontiers'

Later, a man claiming to be a spokesman for Boko Haram told local media the group had carried out both the Mubi and Gombe attacks.

"We are extending our frontiers to other places to show that the declaration of a state of emergency by the Nigerian government will not deter us. We can really go to wherever we want to go," said Abul Qaqa.

He said the attacks were "part of our response to the ultimatum we gave to southerners to leave the north" and called on the government to release all Boko Haram prisoners.

Later on Friday, there were reports that eight people had been killed in another attack on a church in Yola.

"Some gunmen went into the church and opened fire on worshippers killing some people and wounding several others," a local journalist told the AFP news agency.

A source at the local hospital told AFP that between eight and 10 bodies had been taken there.

Police have also been engaged in a gun battle with suspected members of Boko Haram in another north-eastern city, Potiskum, in Yobe state.

"Gunmen who are, from all indications, members of Boko Haram came in large numbers and have encircled police headquarters. They chanted 'Allahu Akbar' [God is Great] and fired indiscriminately," a resident told AFP.

Boko Haram, whose name means 'Western education is forbidden', is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state

More than 500 people have been killed by the group over the past year. On Christmas Day, it carried out a string of church bombings which killed 37 people at one church outside the capital, Abuja, alone.

President Jonathan, who is a Christian, has vowed to crack down on the group but Christian groups have accused him of not doing enough to protect them.

Direct action in Nigeria.

 

[EastWest]

How many Pakistani muslims are condemning this??? They were at full force in hate India BD thread

 

[SHAMK9]

wtf??? wt kind of twisted mind does al quida has? this is beyond brutal, i wish i cud just wipe them off the earth so everything wud be peaceful specially pakistan!!!