Scores of people were left dead in rioting that spread across four northern and north-eastern states in Nigeria, as police and government troops battled young Islamist militants. The violence started on Sunday 26 July when several members of an extreme Islamist group, Boko Haram, were arrested. Police stations were attacked and civilians were pulled from cars at random and slain, and churches were set ablaze. In the town of Maiduguri, Borno state, the BBC reported a hundred corpses piled up in front of the police station.
Mainly Islamic northern Nigeria is governed by sharia law, but Boko Haram, which means education prohibited, opposes all Western influence. Allegedly led by Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf, the group recruits mainly young men. It has no known affiliation to Al-Qaeda. CNN, Reuters
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News story, GenevaLunch, 28 July 2009.
Filed under: World news
Tags: anti-Western, Boko Haram, Islamist militants, Maiduguri, Mohamed Yusuf, Nigeria, religions violence, riots, sharia law
August 18th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
[...] Early reports of the violence that killed 700 people, according to official government figures, showed Boko Haram, an extreme Islamist group, responsible for attacks on government operations and police that resulted in scores of deaths. These were followed by later reports of clashes between government forces and Boko Haram leaders. But video footage showing two men killed in captivity then surfaced. “Though the police claimed to have killed the Boko Haram leaders in combat, video evidence later showed that the sect leader Mohammed Yusuf and alleged financier Buji Foi were shot dead in captivity,” writes the Daily Trust. [...]