MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: Extremist Muslim militants wearing army fatigues gunned down 44 people praying at a mosque in northeast Nigeria, while another 12 civilians died in an apparently simultaneous attack, security agents said Monday.
Sunday’s attacks were the latest in a slew of violence blamed on religious extremists in this West African oil producer, where the radical Boko Haram group, which wants to oust the government and impose their version of Islamic law, poses the greatest security threat in years.
It was not immediately clear why the Boko Haram would have killed worshipping Muslims, but the group has in the past attacked mosques belonging to Sufi Muslims. Boko Haram also has attacked Christians outside churches and teachers and schoolchildren, as well as government and military targets.
Since 2010, the militants have been blamed for the killings of more than 1,700 people, according to a count conducted by The Associated Press.
The news about Sunday’s violence in Borno state, one of three in the northeast under a military state of emergency, came as journalists received a video featuring Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, who gloats over recent attacks, threatens more, and even says his group is now strong enough to go after the United States.
Twenty-six worshippers at the mosque were hospitalized 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.
Nigeria declared a state of emergency in much of the northeast on May 14 to fight the onslaught after Boko Haram fighters took over several northeastern towns and villages in this nation of more than 160 million people, which is divided almost equally between the predominantly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south.
BOKO HARAM: Congregation and People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad (????? ??? ????? ?????? ???????) Jam?’a Ahl al-sunnah li-da’wa wa al-jih?d), better known by its Hausa name Boko Haram, “Western education is sinful”, is an militant organisation based in the northeast of Nigeria north Cameroon and Niger. It is a movement which strongly opposes man-made laws and Westernization. Founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2001, the organisation seeks to establish sharia law in the country. The group is also known for attacking Christians, bombing churches and attacking schools. They gunned down 44 people praying at a mosque in northeast Nigeria last year.
The group seeks to “purify Islam” and is known for using motorbikes as its primary mode of travel. The movement is divided into three factions. In 2011, Boko Haram was responsible for at least 450 killings in Nigeria. It was also reported that they had been responsible for over 620 deaths over the first 6 months of 2012. Since its founding in 2001, the extrmist group has been responsible for roughly 10,000 deaths comprising mostly innocent people.
Boko Haram is linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Agencies
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