Curfew in Bauchi, North East Nigeria Over Religious Clash afp20090727614002 Abuja Hot fm in English 26 Jul 09

He said the men were arrested following a tip-off when five of them left their hide-out and went to Yola to buy food and other basic needs.

"Their appearance -- disheveled and bearded -- gave them away and people alerted the police who arrested them and raided the hide-out where 25 others were rounded up," he said.

He would not say whether weapons were found with them.

Members of the radical Islamist sect who call themselves the Taliban clashed in July with security forces in several northern Nigerian states.

At least 800 people were killed in the violence.

Sect leader Mohammed Yusuf, 39, was killed after his capture by security forces in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State.

Maiduguri city has for centuries been renowned for its Islamic scholarship, producing some of west Africa's best known clerics.

[Description of Source: Paris AFP (World Service) in English -- world news service of the independent French news agency Agence France Presse]

Nigeria: Police Say Arrested Islamists Confess to Afghan Links

FEA20090828918902 - OSC Feature - AFP (World Service) 1908 GMT 27 Aug 09

KANO, Nigeria, Aug 27, 2009 (AFP) - Thirty members of a militant Islamist sect who fled after the group's recent armed uprising in north Nigeria that claimed at least 800 lives have been arrested, a police officer said Thursday.

The members of the Boko Haram group were arrested Wednesday outside Yola, Adamawa State capital, where they fled from Maiduguri, centre of last month's uprising, following a military crackdown, the officer told AFP by telephone from Maiduguri, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The 30 arrested young men were brought here yesterday (Wednesday) in two buses and 10 of them confessed that they received training in bomb-making in Afghanistan," said the officer who is involved in the investigation of the suspects.

He said the men were arrested following a tip-off when five of them left their hide-out and went to Yola to buy food and other basic needs. "Their appearance -- disheveled and bearded -- gave them away and people alerted the police who arrested them and raided the hide-out where 25 others were rounded up," he said.

He would not say whether weapons were found with them.

Members of the radical Islamist sect who call themselves the Taliban clashed in July with security forces in several northern Nigerian states. At least 800 people were killed in the violence. Sect leader Mohammed Yusuf, 39, was killed after his capture by security forces in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State.

Maiduguri city has for centuries been renowned for its Islamic scholarship, producing some of west Africa's best known clerics.

[Description of Source: Paris AFP (World Service) in English -- world news service of the independent French news agency Agence France Presse]

Nigeria: Adamawa State Police Arrests 30 Islamic Sect Members

AFP20090829565003 Isheri Nigerian Compass Online in English 2300 GMT 27 Aug 09

[Unattributed report: "Police Arrest 30 'Boko Haram' Members in Adamawa"]

Thirty members of the militant Boko Harma Islamist sect who fled after the group's recent armed uprising in the Northern part of the country have been arrested, a police officer said yesterday.

They were arrested Wednesday outside Yola, Adamawa State capital, where they fled from Maiduguri, centre of last month's uprising which claimed at least 800 lives.

A police officer did not want to be named said: "The 30 arrested young men were brought here yesterday (Wednesday) in two buses and 10 of them confessed that they received training in bomb-making in Afghanistan."

He said the men were arrested following a tip-off when five of them left their hideout and went to Yola to buy food and other basic needs.

"Their appearance - disheveled and bearded - gave them away and people alerted the police who arrested them and raided the hideout where 25 others were rounded up," he said.

He would not say whether weapons were found with them.

Members of the radical Islamist sect who call themselves the Taliban clashed in July with security forces in several northern Nigerian states.

At least 800 people were killed in the violence.

Sect leader Mohammed Yusuf, 39, was killed after his capture by security forces in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State.

Maiduguri city has for centuries been renowned for its Islamic scholarship, producing some of West Africa's best known clerics.

[Description of Source: Isheri Nigerian Compass Online in English -- Website of the privately owned newspaper close to former Rivers State Governor Peter Odili; URL: http://www.compassnewspaper.com]

Nigeria: Religious Group Denies Links With Islamic Sect

AFP20090830565015 Lagos Vanguard Online in English 29 Aug 09

[Report by Emeka Mamah: "Shiite Disowns Boko Haram"]

The Shiite Islamic sect otherwise known as Islamic Movement of Nigeria denied, yesterday, any link with the Boko Haram Islamic sect, saying it could not be against western education when it currently has over 300 schools across Nigeria teaching both western and Islamic education.

In a statement signed by the national coordinator, Resource Forum of the movement, Dr. Abdullahi Danladi, the group dismissed the claim that its leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, is the founder of the Boko Haram group, asking the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Jama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI) to sanction those propagating such ideas through their Tasfir.

Danladi said that Zakzaky cannot have anything to do with the Boko Haram group while sponsoring several schools across the country, adding, "How Sheikh Zakzaky excelled in his academic pursuit in the ivory tower is no hidden secret. It is pertinent to note that two of his children are currently in the university while the rest are attending schools in Zaria. How, for God's sake, do all these tally with their ineffectual idea that Sheikh Zakzaky is the founder of the Boko Haram idea? It is haram to lie. Apart from this, the movement has over 300 schools across the country that teach both western and Islamic education".

Danladi accused an Islamic preacher of spearheading what he called a campaign of calumny against its leader saying that "it is noteworthy to state that the preacher's current attack and onslaught on the members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and its leader is ultimately aimed at inciting the general public against the peaceful and law abiding members of the Islamic movement at the curious behest of his masters, both domestic and foreign.

"The preacher's regrettable utterance did not stop at cursing the Shia and the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, he has gone ahead to attempt to link the movement with the Boko Haram idea. It is obvious that he has mixed things up. The preacher has further toed a dangerous path by accusing the Islamic Movement of stockpiling arms to attack Muslims in mosques. We will not be surprised if it is part of the plot to stage manage bomb attacks in Nigerian mosques and blame it on the movement.

"If his statement is true that the movement is stockpiling arms, the general populace would have known this in the movement's over 30 years of existence."

[Description of Source: Lagos Vanguard Online in English -- Website of the independent daily; URL: http://www.vanguardngr.com]

BBC Monitoring: Review of Al-Qa'ida Activities in North Africa 16-30 Aug 09

GMP20090830950025 Caversham BBC Monitoring in English 30 Aug 09

From 15 to 30 August, the Algerian and Moroccan newspapers as well as Mauritanian independent Al-Akhbar news agency dealt with a number of issues in relation to the activities of Al-Qa'idah in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb (AQLIM). These included AQLIM's scathing attack on the Muslim Brotherhood organization and its branches in Algeria and in the Palestinian territories; AQLIM's claim of responsibility for the suicide attack which targeted the French embassy in the Mauritanian capital; Algerian and US efforts in the Sahel region to confront AQLIM and the latter's efforts to forge links with radical Islamist groups in Nigeria and the Philippines.

AQLIM attacks Muslim Brotherhood

AQLIM has lashed out at the Muslim Brotherhood organization, in particular its branches in Algeria and in the Palestinian territories, the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP) and the Palestinian Hamas movement respectively. The attack came against the background of the Rafah incidents between Hamas and Abi al-Nur al-Miqdisi group (Jund al-Ansar).

Under the headline "AQLIM leader Abdelmalek Droukdal charges Palestinian Hamas with infidelity and accuses MSP of apostasy", Algerian privately-owned Arabic daily Ech-Chourouk reported on 23 August that, in a statement published by an Islamist website, AQLIM had described as "disgraceful" the position of MSP founder late Mahfoud Nahnah towards the country's security crisis in the 1990s, and he referred to his movement as a "pro-Jewish and Christian pillar and a poisonous dagger which stabbed the back of the Muslim nation". According to the newspaper, AQLIM viewed MSP's 19-year political experience as "one of the catastrophes" of the Muslim Brotherhood's branch in Algeria.

Ech-Chourouk quoted the AQLIM statement referring to the incidents opposing Hamas and members of Jund al-Ansar group in the White Mosque, in Rafah, as "terrible carnage and a brutal crime which shocked us and about which we will not remain silent". It viewed the "victims of Hamas's bullets" as "martyrs of the Muslim nation" and the actions of Hamas as an "ideological stupidity requiring an immediate rectification, which can only be done by handing those accused of killing Shaykh Abi al-Nur al-Miqdisi over to the Islamic court".

On 26 August, privately-owned Algerian Arabic newspaper El Fadjr quoted an MSP official urging AQLIM members to endorse President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation: "We urge AQLIM to abandon armed action, to join the national reconciliation efforts and to serve the faith and the homeland. The door is still open for all Algerians and the hand continues to be extended to the misguided to embrace society and to return to live with their families in order to pave the way for construction and prosperity".

The paper said MSP spokesman Mohamed Djouma had responded to AQLIM's statement regarding the Rafah incidents and quoted him as saying: "MSP has nothing to do with the Rafah incidents. However, we urge Muslims to close their ranks in the face of Israel. The attacks against and vilification of late Mahfoud Nahnah by the leader of the terrorist organization, Abdelmalek Droukdal, is not something new in the thinking of this blood-thirsty individual".

AQLIM claims responsibility for Nouakchott attack

On 18 August, Mauritanian independent Al-Akhbar news agency reported AQLIM's statement on an Internet website in which it claimed responsibility for the 8-August suicide attack which targeted the French embassy in Nouakchott, and in which it identified the suicide bomber as "Abou Oubeida Moussa Basri," indicating that he came from Nouakchott's Basra District. The agency quoted the statement as saying that the suicide bomber had "planned to blow himself up inside the embassy. However, unforeseen circumstances had prevented him from entering the building, and so he blew himself up at the embassy gate wounding a number of French gendarmes who were guarding the building."

Al-Akhbar quoted the statement as saying that the attack was a "message to the tyrant agent of the Crusaders, President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, and to the services of oppression responsible for the recent arrests and torture of the pure Muslim youths in the land of beloved Mauritania. Such aggression will not go unpunished and the spark of jihad which began in the land of the Islamic Maghreb will continue."

US, Algeria and Sahel region

On 25 August, privately-owned Moroccan daily Al-Ahdath al-Maghribia reported that after Algeria had opposed US presence at a recent meeting in its southern Tamenrasset City on terrorism in the Sahel region - which brought together army and intelligence chiefs of Algeria, Mali, Niger and Mauritania - military advisors from US Command in Europe would soon pay visits to Niger, Mali and Mauritania.

The paper quoted media sources as saying: "The objective of the visits is to evaluate the security situation on the ground, to review field units in these three countries and the extent of the preparedness of their border guards to face up to the threats of terrorism. The US military advisors will also compare these countries' requests for armament with their needs on the ground, after the US, France and Spain have decided to provide them with military aid and finance programmes to train their intelligence officers to face up to organized crime and terrorist threats."

For its part, El Khabar on 24 August reported that a US Europe Command delegation had arrived two days earlier in Niger. The paper quoted an "informed source" as saying that the US security delegation would also "visit Mauritania and Mali in a week-long tour of the Sahel region," and that the "delegation will meet military and security officials from Bamako, Niamey and Nouakchott, and will inspect airbases in the three countries as well as a naval base in Mauritania, believed to be the Nouadhibou military port".

The paper quoted the same source as saying that during the tour, the "US intelligence officers and officials will review the military and logistic capabilities of the three countries' armies in order to plan operations to transport weapons if needed". El Khabar said such a move would "not rule out the scenario of direct military intervention in these countries which bear the responsibility of curbing AQLIM's expansion in the Sahel region".

On 28 August, El Khabar quoted an "informed source" as saying that "some 20 military trucks coming from Algerian Tamenrasset Province had arrived in Mali loaded with munitions, individual weapons and equipment, including binoculars, night vision and satellite navigation equipment". The paper said the dispatch of the military equipment was the "result of an agreement between Algerian and Sahel armies' representatives" during their recent meeting which was held in Tamenrasset.

El Khabar also quoted "available information" as saying that the shipment of arms was provided "under strict conditions prohibiting their use against the Tuareg rebels". It also quoted the source as saying that Algeria would also "supply Niger with military equipment".

AQLIM's "ties" with Boko Haram, Abu Sayyaf groups

Under the headline "In an effort to deploy in Africa and to seek new financial backers, Al-Qa'idah in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb calls for alliance with Boko Haram group in Nigeria," El Fadjr reported on 21 August that AQLIM had urged the Nigerian Islamists to join it to form a new force in the African Sahara and had threatened the Abuja authorities that it would avenge the killing of the leader of the Nigerian Islamist group, Mohammed Yusuf, and of the "Muslim victims of recent incidents".

El Fadjr quoted a statement by AQLIM as saying: "We present our condolences and express our support to our brothers in Nigeria. We notice the absence of world reaction to the violations committed by the Nigerian armed forces against the victims before the eyes of the world which boasts about human rights and the pseudo values of freedom and justice. AQLIM is determined to take revenge on the Christian minority in Nigeria and to fight infidels in the region. We urge our Salafi jihadi brothers to join our organization to form a united front in order to establish Islamic Shar'iah and to fight the Nigerian army and the infidel Crusaders."

For its part, El Khabar reported on 23 August that the country's security services had been monitoring "contacts" between AQLIM and the southern Philippines Islamists of the Abu Sayyaf group: "A security official has spoken to El Khabar about disclosing details following the arrest of two recruits who returned recently from jihadi operations with the Abu Sayyaf group. The security services were able to examine details of a nascent cooperation between Algerians recruited by AQLIM - who entered the Philippines through Indonesia - and elements belonging to the Abu Sayyaf group in southern Philippines."

El Khabar recalled that the US viewed the Abu Sayyaf group as being close to Al-Qa'idah and listed it as a terrorist group which finances parts of its activities through kidnappings and the racketeering of companies and rich businessmen and it usually targets Americans and Europeans.

[Description of Source: Caversham BBC Monitoring in English -- Monitoring service of the BBC, the United Kingdom's public service broadcaster]

Chad: Muslim Scholar Says Boko Haram Leader Has Ties With Bin Ladin

AFP20090901651006 N'Djamena Le Progres in French 12 Aug 09 p 3

[Article by Adoum Tchere: "Chadian Imams Denounce Boko Haram"]

Scholars and imams of mosques in N'Djamena condemned the uprising of the Boko Haram [Western education is a sin, in a Nigerian dialect] brotherhood followers which caused the death of 880 people two weeks ago, notably in Maiduguri, Nigeria. In the Friday Sermons of 7 August, Imams that preached on the incident denounced the clashes, saying such behavior has nothing to do with Islam. "A Muslim, worthy of that name, cannot be the cause of several innocent people's death. Mahamat Youssouf, leader of the Boko Haram sect, that caused the painful incidents which happened in July in Nigeria, did not have true knowledge of Islam", said Cheikh Khalil Mahamat Djibrine, second Imam of the Abou Zahr Khoufary Mosque, in Repos I district.

"All the Muslim scholars have for a long time promoted debates and dialogue instead of violence, to make themselves understood", he said. Cheikh Khalil Mahamat Djibrine noticed that since the beginning of these incidents, many people accused Muslims and above all Sunnis of being violent. "If the followers of Mahamat Youssouf wear beards, it is not the beard which makes the Sunna (the Prophet's tradition). Jews wear beards but they are not Muslims. The Sunna is the implementation of Prophet Muhammad and the Koran's tradition," said the Imam of the Abou Zhar Khofary Mosque.

Sunnis Are Not Against the State

He stated that, Sunnis disagree with raising an army against the state's authority. According to him, in Chad, Sunnis were the first to alert the authorities in 2002, about the infiltration of the "djama'a t'al-hidjra wal tafkir" brotherhood of which the Boko Haram leader was a member. At that time, the former chairman of the Association Ansar Al Sunna Al Salafiya, Cheikh Oumar Adam Ibrahim, denounced the behavior of a Sudanese national, Djafar Deffallah, follower of the brotherhood that tried to teach the principles of his brotherhood to young Chadians. "Cheikh Oumar Adam stands in the way of religious extremism" was the headline of the Le Progres issue 1058 of 21 August 2002. According to some students of the former chairman of the Association Ansar Al Sunna Al Salafiya, Djafar was the one to teach violence to Mahamat Youssouf and his followers. "The acts committed by Mahamat Youssouf's companions were similar to the principles of the "djama'a t'al-hidjra wal tafkir" taught in 2001 by Djafar Deffallah, said professor Oumar Adam Ibrahim.

Ignorance Brings About Extremism

Cheikh Khalil Mahamat Djibrine that knew the leader of Boko Haram very well, stated that, Mahamat Youssouf identified himself with Usama Bin Ladin. For the followers of this brotherhood, said the Imam, all those that did not share their vision, or the Muslim leaders that did not rule according to the strict rules of Islam, were disbelievers. Cheikh Khalil Mahamat Djibrine said that, he himself was called a disbeliever by the leader of Boko Haram, in Nigeria in 2003 for disagreeing with his opinion.

In this brotherhood's philosophy, whoever submits to the law of a country rather than the Islamic one strays from Islam. It called "haram" (forbidden), and act of disbelief, Western education, the learning of French, English etc. some young people tore their diplomas before joining this brotherhood. Cheikh Khalil Mahamat Djibrine said that ignorance was the cause of religious extremism. For Imams, those that commit acts of violence misinterpreted the verses of the Koran. Violent groups are led by young individuals in their thirties, said Cheikh Khalil Mahamat Djibrine. That was the case of Ahmat Ismail Bichara that declared the jihad in the end of June 2008 in Kouno, Baguirmi in Chad and Mahamat Youssouf in Nigeria in 2009. The mind of a man reaches wisdom only from 40 years old and Islam gives preference to a wise leader.

[Description of Source: N'Djamena Le Progres in French -- Pro-government daily, reportedly owned by Communication Minister Mahamat Hissene, a member of the ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement Reference:]

Nigeria: Kano State Police Charge 5 Suspects Allegedly Belonging to Islamic Sect

AFP20090902578006 Abuja Daily Trust Online in English 02 Sep 09

[Report by Lawan Danjuma Adamu: "More Boko Haram Members Charged in Kano"]

A month after the arraignment of dozens of Boko Haram members before a magistrate's court in Kano State, police yesterday charged five men for allegedly belonging to the sect.

The five suspects were arrested by policemen in the Bachirawa area of Kurnan Asabe in Kano metropolis. The alleged sect members who are mostly teenagers, are being accused of belonging to an unlawful society contrary to Section 97 of the Penal Code Law, the police First Information Report (FIR) said. The suspects include Mallam Bashir Shekarau, Ibrahim Alkasim, Abdulhamid Harisu, Ibrahim Sa'idu and Lukman Harisu.

[Description of Source: Abuja Daily Trust Online in English -- Website of the independent pro-North daily; URL: http://www.news.dailytrust.com/]

Nigeria: Boko Haram Relocates Base to Taraba

AFP20090902606001 Lagos Ray Power 2 Radio in English 0900 GMT 26 Aug 09

Members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect who recently caused sectarian crisis in some northern states have allegedly relocated to Taraba State. The sect was flushed out of Gombe, Bauchi, and Borno states by the military and police after a four-day offensive.

Though the state police commissioner could not be reached to confirm the report, a senior police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said,

[Begin Police recording] The police are very much aware of their presence. We have been intimated by the Force Headquarters of the presence of Boko Haram people in this state and we are already putting heads together to bring them to book. Security had been intensified as we have dispatched our surveillance teams to the entire axis of the state to help in monitoring them. Like I earlier revealed to you, we have received signals from our Force Headquarters that these people are here in the state and that they are planning to re launch their attack from here. So the idea of where they pitched their tent should not arise now because I am not in a position to speak with you on this issue. Even the commissioner, I believe, would not mention the camp to you. [end recording]

The officer did not mention their camp sites. The sect, which opposes Western education, allegedly has its members predominantly in Sunkani, the headquarters of Ardo-Kola local council of Taraba State. Though no information was made available by the police on the recent deployment of more mobile policemen to some councils, an official of one of the councils said such action has become necessary because of the alleged presence of Boko Haram sect members. Special Adviser on Security Matters to the Governor, Charles Marijuana, has placed an embargo on public preaching by religious leaders and political rallies. The decision, he said, was aimed at dousing tension and preventing any form of religious uprising in the state.