Nigeria Attack: Students Shot Dead As They Slept

BBC: Suspected Islamist gunmen have attacked a college in north-eastern Nigeria, killing up to 50 students.

The students were shot dead as they slept in their dormitory at the College of Agriculture in Yobe state.

North-eastern Nigeria is under a state of emergency amid an Islamist insurgency by the Boko Haram group.

Boko Haram is fighting to overthrow Nigeria's government to create an Islamic state, and has launched a number of attacks on schools. » | Sunday, September 29, 2013

Nigeria One Step Away from Banning Gay Marriage

THE GUARDIAN: President yet to sign bill that would jail same-sex couples for up to 14 years amid pressure from UK and US over foreign aid

Nigeria has passed a bill banning gay marriage, outlawing organisations supporting gay rights and setting prison terms of up to 14 years for offenders.

The bill, passed by Nigeria's House of Representatives will now go to the president, Goodluck Jonathan, to be signed into law. Whether he will approve it remains unclear, as both the US and the UK said the move could jeopardise foreign funding for Aids and HIV outreach programs.

Nigeria's Senate passed the bill in November 2011, but it did not emerge in the house until Thursday. Under previous versions of the bill, couples who marry could face up to 14 years each in prison. Witnesses or anyone who helps couples marry could be jailed for 10 years.

The bill also makes it illegal to register gay clubs or organisations criminalises the "public show of same-sex amorous relationships directly or indirectly". Those who violate these aspects would face 10 years in jail. » | AP in Abuja | Thursday, May 30, 2013

Nigerian Christian Group Threatens Retaliation Over Islamist Attacks
THE GUARDIAN: Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says it will launch terror campaign 'in defence of Christianity'

Nigeria could face a battle between rival terrorist groups after Christian militants threatened to attack Muslim targets in response to bombings carried out by the Islamist group Boko Haram.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), the umbrella body of armed groups in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta, said it would launch a new terror campaign "in defence of Christianity".

"The bombings of mosques, hajj camps, Islamic institutions, large congregations in Islamic events and assassinations of clerics that propagate doctrines of hate will form the core mission of this crusade," the Mend spokesman Jomo Gbomo said in an emailed statement. » | Afua Hirsch, west Africa correspondent | Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Nigeria Riot over 'Blasphemy' against Islam's Prophet
BBC: A rumour that a Christian man blasphemed against Islam has sparked a riot in the northern Nigeria town of Bichi, police have said.

Residents said four people were killed and shops were looted.

The riot came on the day the incoming head of the Anglican Church, the Rt Rev Justin Welby, launched an initiative to promote religious tolerance in Nigeria.

Religious clashes have claimed thousands of lives in Nigeria since military rule ended in 1999.

The militant Islamist group, Boko Haram, has also been waging an insurgency since 2009 to impose strict Sharia across Nigeria, which is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and a Christian and animist south. » | Thursday, November 22, 2012

Besuch in Abuja: Westerwelle fordert Schutz für Christen in Nigeria

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Außenminister Westerwelle hat in einem Gespräch mit Nigerias Präsidenten Jonathan in Abuja seine Sorge über die Sekte Boko Haram geäußert. Nigerias Regierung zeigte sich offen für Verhandlungen mit den Islamisten.

Der deutsche Außenminister Guido Westerwelle hat die nigerianische Regierung aufgefordert, alles zu tun, um die eigene Bevölkerung, insbesondere die christlichen Gemeinden, vor terroristischer Gewalt zu schützen. „Der Terror der islamistischen Sekte Boko Haram erfüllt mich mit großer Sorge“, sagte er vor einem Gespräch mit dem nigerianischen Präsidenten Goodluck Jonathan am Freitag in der Hauptstadt Abuja. Die Menschenrechtsorganisation Amnesty International hatte am Donnerstag kritisiert, dass es beim Einsatz der nigerianischen Sicherheitskräfte gegen die islamistischen Terroristen zu Menschenrechtsverletzungen komme. Es wurde erwartet, dass Westerwelle, der während seines Besuchs auch mit muslimischen und christlichen Vertretern über Glaubensfreiheit und Toleranz diskutieren wird, das Thema in seinen nicht-öffentlichen Gesprächen mit dem Staatsoberhaupt und Außenminister Olugbenga Ayodeji Ashiru anspricht. » | Von Majid Sattar, Abuja | Freitag, 02. November 2012

Attack Hits Northern Nigeria Church
Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerian president, has condemned an attack on a church in northern Nigeria, and has vowed to crush terrorists in his country. At least eight people were killed when a suicide bomber drove a car filled with explosives into the church packed with Sunday worshippers. Two two more people died later in reprisal attacks. Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan reports.

WIKI: Boku Haram »

Nigeria Church Attack Leaves at Least 19 Dead

THE GUARDIAN: Congregation killed and wounded when gunmen open fire on Deeper Life church in the town of Otite in Kogi state

Gunmen fired on worshippers in a church in central Nigeria, killing at least 19 people, including the pastor, and wounding others, the military has said.

The attack targeted a Deeper Life church in the town of Otite in Kogi state, about 250km (155 miles) south-west of Nigeria's capital, Abuja. Police and soldiers surrounded the church on Tuesday morning, witnesses said. It was unclear how many people were wounded in the attack Monday night.

The gunmen surrounded the church during a service and opened fire with Kalashnikov rifles, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gabriel Olorunyomi said. The pastor was among the dead.

Soldiers searched for gunmen through the night, but had made no arrests as of Tuesday, he added, No group has claimed responsibility.

The killings come as Nigeria faces continuing attacks from a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. » | Associated Press in Abuja | Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Nigeria: Attaques meurtrières contre deux églises
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Deux églises ont été prises pour cible dimanche par des hommes armés, faisant au moins quatre morts et des dizaines de blessés.

Une bombe a explosé près d'une église de Jos (centre), a déclaré le porte-parole du gouvernement, Pam Ayuba. Selon lui, "le kamikaze et deux autres personnes ont été tuées". En outre, 41 personnes ont été blessées et "sont traitées à l'hôpital évangélique de Jos".

Le groupe islamiste Boko Haram a revendiqué ces attaques à l'explosif contre deux églises. "Nous sommes responsables de l'attaque suicide contre une église à Jos (centre) et d'une autre attaque contre une église à Biu (nord-est)", a déclaré Abul Qaqa, se présentant comme un porte-parole du groupe, lors d'une conférence de presse par téléphone depuis Maiduguri, le fief de Boko Haram dans le nord-est. » | ats/Newsnet | dimanche 10 juin 2012

Nigerian Christian Worshippers Targeted by Islamic Terrorists
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Suspected Islamic terrorists killed as many as 20 Christian worshippers in an attack on a makeshift church at a university in northern Nigeria.

Several small bombs, believed to have been fashioned from fizzy drinks cans, were thrown into a lecture hall that was being used for a Sunday morning service in Kano, a city that has been repeatedly attacked by Muslim radicals.

The explosions killed one person and injured many others. But as the crowd fled the lecture hall, gunmen waiting outside opened fire with automatic rifles.

Several dozen people who had been unable to enter the building, at Kano's Bayero University, who were listening to the service outdoors were also targeted.

Within minutes, as many as 19 others were killed, and their bodies littered the campus grounds as the gunfire continued for up to half an hour more, witnesses said.

"I was inside and we were preparing for a prayer when there was the sound of motorbikes driving fast and then the first explosion," one student worshipper, who gave her name only as Grace, said.

"Everything then happened very fast. There were more bombs, I think, and so many gunshots, there was too much noise and people were panicking." » | Mike Pflanz, Nairobi | Sunday, April 29, 2012

Islamic Scholar Condemns Gay Marriage in Nigeria
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE: AN Islamic scholar, (Alhaji) Abideen Olaiya, has condemned the proposed gay marriage in the country, saying that it is Unislamic [sic], satanic, evil and ungodly act which shows the end time of the earth.

Olaiya who was a guest lecturer at the Walimot Nikah between Sister Nafisat Opeyemi Abdul-Rasaq and Barrister Qasim Hussain Odedeji, the Amir, Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Osogbo branch, Osun State, made this known while delivering his lecture entitled "Challenges of Marriage In our society [sic].”

He maintained that it was the right of men and women to marry each other Islamically on this planet, stressing that it was legal and right in Islam for a man with necessary powers to marry more than one wife.

According to him, only men endowed by Allah with sexual, intelligent and financial power were allowed by Islam to marry more than one wife, urging the Muslim men with the enumerated powers to marry more than one wife. » | Friday, April 13, 2012

Nigeria: Boko Haram a des liens avec Aqmi, selon un militaire haut gradé
AFP: ABUJA — Le groupe radical islamiste Boko Haram, impliqué dans de nombreux attentats et assassinats au Nigeria, a des liens avec Al-Qaïda, a affirmé jeudi à Abuja un haut responsable militaire nigérian, établissant ainsi officiellement ce lien pour la première fois.

"Nous avons eu la preuve des liens entre la secte Boko Haram et l'entrainement et le soutien prodigués par Al-Qaïda au Maghreb islamique (Aqmi)", a indiqué le chef d'état-major de l'aviation nigériane, le général Oluseyi Petinrin. » | AFP | jeudi 23 février 2012

200 Suspected Islamist Gunmen Freed in Nigeria Prison Break
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Suspected Islamist gunmen bombed their way into a prison in central Nigeria before opening fire on the wardens and emptying the jail of its 200 inmates, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The attack in the central Kogi state left one warden dead and while there was no official confirmation of the raiders' identity, local residents suspected the Boko Haram Islamist sect which has been wreaking havoc in Nigeria.

"There was a jail break last night. From reports available to us, a large number of gunmen attacked the Koton Karfe prison around 7:00pm and threw explosives at the gate and opened fire on our wardens," said prison spokeswoman Hadiza Aminu.

She said a shoot-out then erupted.

"One of our men was killed and the gunmen overpowered the wardens and broke into the cells, freeing inmates – 199 inmates all awaiting trial escaped, leaving only one inmate," Aminu told AFP.

She refused to speculate on the identity of the attackers.

"We still don't know who was behind this attack. Investigations have commenced to determine that."

But a resident Isiaka Yakub said: "From all indications, the attackers were members of Boko Haram," adding that there were around 20 of them. Continue reading and comment » | AFP | Thursday, February 16, 2012

Sharia Law from UK to Nigeria
A documentary about the extremely fast uprising of the sharia law in Nigeria.

New Dark Age Alert! Boko Haram Vows to Fight until Nigeria Establishes Sharia Law
THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: Spokesman for Islamist group says it will not stop deadly attacks until country is ruled according to dictates of Allah

The Islamist group Boko Haram, which has killed almost 1,000 people in Nigeria, will continue its campaign of violence until the country is ruled by sharia law, a senior member has told the Guardian.

"We will consider negotiation only when we have brought the government to their knees," the spokesman, Abu Qaqa, said in the group's first major interview with a western newspaper. "Once we see that things are being done according to the dictates of Allah, and our members are released [from prison], we will only put aside our arms – but we will not lay them down. You don't put down your arms in Islam, you only put them aside."

Qaqa, whose name is a pseudonym, said the group's members were spiritual followers of al-Qaida, and claimed they had met senior figures in the network founded by Osama bin Laden during visits to Saudia Arabia.

The interview comes a week after Boko Haram claimed responsibility for Nigeria's single deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 186 people in the northern city of Kano.

In an audio message posted on YouTube on Friday, the group's current leader, Abubakar Shekau, threatened to bomb schools and kidnap family members of government officials.

"If [security forces] are going to places of worship and destroying them, like mosques and Quranic schools, you have primary schools as well, you have secondary schools and universities, and we will start bombing them." » | Monica Mark in Abuja | Friday, January 27, 2012

Pakistan Knew Where Bin Laden Was All Along »

Nigerian Police Battle New Attacks

Scores Dead in Northern Nigeria as Islamist Militants Terrorise the Country
THE GUARDIAN: Group bidding to impose sharia law claims responsibility for wave of attacks in city of Kano

More than 140 people have died in the northern Nigerian city of Kano after a series of attacks by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. In a series of attacks on Friday, as residents were leaving mosques, five police buildings, two immigration offices and the local headquarters of the national intelligence services were targeted.

"We are still collecting the bodies so we cannot confirm the total death toll. We have nine so far. We will know the final number once we have finished collecting," a spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency told the Observer
.
Witnesses reported seeing at least 100 bodies sprawled around the regional police base alone. Officials in the main hospital said the wounded and dead were still being ferried in on Saturday, some after being trapped by overnight gunfights.

Authorities largely refused to offer casualty statistics as mourners began claiming the bodies of their loved ones to bury before sundown, following Islamic tradition. However, a hospital official told the Associated Press at least 143 people were killed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release the death toll to journalists. The figure could rise further, since other bodies could be held at other clinics and hospitals. » | Monica Mark in Lagos | Saturday, January 21, 2012

Nigerian Christians Told to Defend Themselves
Amid fears that a recent string of attacks targeting Christians could drive the nation towards civil war, Ayo Oritsejafor, the head of the Christian Association of Nigeria, has said Christians must defend themselves against violence. Boko Haram, the radical Islamist group responsible for killing Christians in the mainly Muslim north, has vowed further attacks and bloodshed. Oritsejafor said: "We have the legitimate right to defend ourselves and ... we will do whatever it takes." Al Jazeera's Caroline Malone reports.

Boko Haram Kill Eight as Nigerian Beer Parlour Is Targeted
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Gunmen from the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram killed eight people, including four police officers, after opening fire at a beer parlour in northeast Nigeria.

The shootings come as the sect has promised to target Christians in Nigeria's Muslim north, expanding its campaign of assassinations and bombings.

Tuesday night's attack occurred in the town of Potiskum in Yobe state. Local police commissioner Tanko Lawan said the six gunmen began shooting as patrons drank beer, which the local Shariah law technically opposes, though bars remain open for those living there. » | Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Nigeria's Descent into Holy War

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A wave of terrorist violence across Nigeria has raised fears of an alliance between the Islamist Boko Haram movement and al-Qaeda's franchise in the Sahara. Colin Freeman reports from the Boko Haram stronghold of Maiduguri.

Like many other Christian outposts in the spiritual homeland of Nigeria's "Taliban", the Victory Baptist Church in the northern desert city of Maiduguri no longer just relies on God for protection.

A modest whitewashed spire in a skyline dominated by mosques, for the last month it has had a military guard to defend it from Boko Haram, the militant local Islamist sect blamed for a string of terror attacks nationwide in recent weeks.

The soldiers in the sandbagged machinegun nest outside the church, though, were unable save three members of the flock last week.

On Wednesday evening, three days after Boko Haram ordered all Christians to leave Muslim-dominated northern Nigeria for good, Ousman Adurkwa, a 65-year-old local trader, answered the door of his home near the church to what he thought was an after-hours customer. Instead it was two masked gunmen.

"They shot my father dead, and then came for the rest of the family," Mr Adurkwa's other son Hyeladi, 25, told The Sunday Telegraph the following day. "One chased my brother Moussa and killed him, and the other shot at me, but my mother took the bullet in the stomach instead." » | Colin Freeman, Maiduguri | Sunday, January 08, 2012

Islamisten stellen Christen in Nigeria ein Ultimatum
TAGES ANZEIGER: Binnen drei Tagen sollen alle Christen den Norden Nigerias verlassen, fordert die islamistische Sekte Boko Haram. Gleichzeitig wollen die Extremisten auch, dass alle Muslime vom Süden in den Norden ziehen.

Die islamistische Sekte Boko Haram hat die im Norden Nigerias lebenden Christen aufgefordert, den hauptsächlich von Muslimen bewohnten Landesteil umgehend zu verlassen. Die Gruppe stelle den Christen dafür ein «Ultimatum von drei Tagen», sagte ein Sprecher der Sekte am Sonntagabend. Im Kampf gegen extremistische Gewalt schlossen nigerianische Soldaten am Montag mehrere Grenzübergänge.

Muslime, die im hauptsächlich von Christen bewohnten Süden des Landes lebten, sollten in den Norden zurückkehren, sagte Boko-Haram-Sprecher Abul Qaqa in einer Telefonkonferenz zu Journalisten. Es gebe «Beweise» dafür, dass die Muslime im Süden bald angegriffen würden. » | rub/AFP | Montag 02. Januar 2012