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

[Ikenye] Can you describe to us how the city now looks like and the mood on the ground?

[Babangida] The mood and the people in the city now are living in great fear, more than even more than the first day of the crisis, because yesterday, they were thinking that maybe, when they started the operation, trying to shell the area, they were expecting that by this morning that everything would be over. But on hearing the gunshots since morning up to this time, everybody is living in fear. [end recording]

[Ikenye] That was Bilkisu Babangida in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria. Well, to find out more about the joint police and army operation against Boko Haram, I earlier called up the police spokesman for Borno State, Issa Azare. The answers had to be voiced over because of the poor line.

[Azare] The latest is that police and security agencies are on top of the situation right now. They are in control; they are in control.

[Ikenye] So, are you still fighting? Are you still shelling the areas and trying to flush out the militants? Can you describe exactly what is going on?

[Azare] Yes, right now, we are telling the civilians who are living around that place to vacate and leave that place.

[Ikenye] How much resistance are you getting from these militants because you talked about little resistance you are getting from the militants? How difficult is it for you to be able to flush them out?

[Azare] There is need for the sake of the civilians that we hold fire to allow them to go. I mean, we do not want to be firing anyhow to kill the innocent citizens. That is why we are seeking tactical maneuvers to get the actual perpetrators.

[Ikenye] So, what exactly are you doing on the police road blocks? Because the report we are getting is that people are being pulled out of their cars or their vehicles and then they are being whipped.

[Azare] No, it is not true; once you have reached a police road block, they will ask you to stop, check your boot, if there is nothing incriminating, then they allow you to go about your normal business. We do not intimidate people. We do not intimidate people.

[Ikenye] So, let us talk about the militants; we hear some of the ones that have been killed are not even Nigerians. Do you have any idea where they are from?

[Azare] No, we cannot differentiate now; we cannot differentiate now. After everything, then, one thing is that it is only immigration officials that can confirm to us whether they are Nigerians or not. After everything, then we will tell you whether some of them are Nigerians or not.

[Ikenye] So, how long do you expect this to go on? How long do you expect the operation to last?

[Azare] Very soon.

[Ikenye] Give us ... [Ikenye pauses] I mean, what is very soon? Give us a specific [time] so that we can get to know how strong the opposing side is. Give us a specific description of when.

[Azare] Soonest, soonest; it will all be over.

[Ikenye So, do we expect this to go on for a week or do we expect this to go on for today only? I mean, how does it look? And what is your plan?

[Azare] Very soon, it will be over; very soon.

[Ikenye That was police spokesman for Borno State in northeastern Nigeria, Issa Azare. Today, the fighting has not just been taking place in the city of Maiduguri but also elsewhere in Borno State. There had been clashes on the road leading west out of the city. Freelance Journalist Tunde Asadjou has been traveling across the north of Nigeria and this morning, he was stopped at a road block about 100 km west of Maiduguri. He has been telling us what he saw.

[Begin recording] [Asadjou] We could also hear a lot of gunfire in front there. We decided to stop and we stood there for about three hours. There was a long convoy of other vehicles that wanted to move than we could sporadic gunshots some 50 or so meters away from where we were standing. When we got to the spot where apparently, the firing was going on, there were empty shells of bullets virtually scattered all over the road and we saw four trucks of police and pickup trucks that were piled up with corpses and from (?eye's) count as we drove past there, we must have had at least 20 corpses of the militants who had gone to lay siege on the road, trying to prevent government t vehicles and other people from passing. [end recording]

[Ikenye] That was Freelance Journalist Tunde Asadjou. Now, one of the actions of the police has been to rescue more than 180 women and children who were with the fighters in Maiduguri. They said they had gone there willingly with their husbands but did not realize what they were getting themselves into. This woman has been telling the BBC what happened to her.

[Begin Hadjara recording in Hausa fading into English] My name is Hadjara. I came here from Bauchi State. I was brought here to Maiduguri in order to further my religious studies. It was our teachers and leaders who brought us here, saying that we would be here to study for a fortnight. But we have had nothing to eat except dates and nuts. We were supposed to be here with the men but since we left Bauchi, we have not seen them. It was our husbands who said we should come here and further our studies and we came here because they threatened us saying that whoever refused to come here would have to hand over her children and they would be taken away. [end recording]

[Ikenye] That is a Nigerian woman, Hadjara, speaking after she was rescued by the police.

[Description of Source: London BBC World Service in English -- External radio service of the United Kingdom's public service broadcaster]

Clashes in Nigerian state said spreading as toll rises to 157

AFP20090729302003 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 28 Jul 09

Clashes in Nigerian state said spreading as toll rises to 157

Text of report by private Nigerian newspaper The Guardian website on 28 July

[Report by Njadvara Musa, Ali Garba, Terhemba Daka, Adamu Abuh and Auwal Ahmad: "Sectarian Violence Spreads, 157 Feared Dead in Borno, Kano"]

The sectarian violence, which broke out in Bauchi on Sunday, has spread to Borno and Kano yesterday, claiming over 157 lives.

In Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, over 154 people were killed when armed members of the Islamic fundamentalists sect, Boko Haram, led by Mohammed Yusuf, a cleric, attacked the police headquarters around 10.00 p.m. and burnt 12 offices and quarters of the police and 11 patrol and personal vehicles.

However, the timely intervention of mobile policemen limited the casualty figure in Kano to three.

The Islamic fundamentalists were alleged to be fighting against those who have adopted western values.

In Borno, targets of the armed sect members were the Police Armoury, the Maiduguri New Prison and the life of the commander of the joint border patrol, whose house located at the police headquarters, was still burning as at the time of filing in this report.

Out of the 154 people killed, whose bodies littered the Post Office-Airport Road, there were over 115 members of the sect that used swords, bows and arrows, sticks and petrol bombs in attacking the Police Headquarters.

The police, which were taken by surprise on how the armed sect members got entry into the Police Headquarters, burnt the house of the commander of the joint border patrol and moved to the prison, killing one of the prison warders at the gate, and set all the inmates free.

As the prison inmates fled, some militants, however, abducted and took hostage of Ahmed Silkida, the correspondent of Daily Trust, alleging that he had betrayed the sect by dressing and keeping his bearded face like them without protecting their interest of fighting the Borno State government and its security agents.

In a telephone interview with The Guardian yesterday, Silkida said: "I am right now in the hands of the sect members. You should pray that the commander would release me because they are alleging that I betrayed their mission of waging a jihad against the state government and the Izala religious group".

As at 2.00 p.m. yesterday, six hours after launching the attacks, some of the sect members who escaped the firing power of the police, however, regrouped with arms and took over the entire Abaganaram Ward where the prison is located and the State Low Cost Housing Estate.

The 10-hour Maiduguri clash between the militants and the Operation Flush II, has however, brought business and other economic activities in the state to a halt, as all the streets and roads were deserted by residents, fearing that the crisis might spread to Bulunkutu, Gomari, Customs, Abaganaram and other areas.

Besides, all markets, schools and the Musa Usman Secretariat complex that houses workers with the 18 ministries and parastatals in Maiduguri are to remain closed, awaiting a state-wide broadcast from Governor Ali Sheriff on the sects' clashes with the police.

The Guardian also learnt that the targets of the fundamentalists are government lodges, Operation Flush checkpoints in Maiduguri and Jere metropolis, Police Headquarters and leaders of the Izala religious groups and their mosques located in various parts of Maiduguri.

Confirming the killing of over 154 people, Col. Ben Ahanotu, the commander of Operation Flush II, in a telephone interview said: "Yes, we have got them and gone with their bows and arrows and sticks. The next military action against these armed religious sect, is to destroy their operational points and areas that pose serious threat to lives and property."

While 33 of the militants were nabbed at Wudil, headquarters of Wudil Local Council of Kano State, the police are yet to ascertain whether the remaining 100 arrested at the Mariri area of Kano metropolis at about 1.00 p.m. yesterday were militants or genuine members of the Izala sect who were part of an Islamic peaceful assembly, which took place last weekend in Yola.

As at 3.00 a.m. yesterday, a band of militants comprising nationals of neighbouring Chad had stormed the headquarters of the Wudil Divi sional Police Station with the intent of disarming the policemen on duty.

The policemen put up stiff resistance to the fundamentalists. In the ensuing melee, the militants shot two of the policemen, including the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Sadiq Inuwa.

A contingent of mobile policemen led by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Lawal Tanko who were placed on the alert at the border post at the Bauchi and Jigawa States sprang into action and gunned down two of the militants who had removed two AK 47 rifles from the Wudil Police Station, about 28 kilometres away from Kano.

Kano police spokesman, Baba Mohammed, confirmed the incident at the Bompai Headquarters of the Kano State Police Command.

Among items paraded were knifes, cutlasses, local charms and personal belongings, including some drugs apparently put to use by the fundamentalists before unleashing mayhem on their victims.

Police Superintendent Baba disclosed that a sizeable number of the fundamentalists most of whom are teenagers, hail from Kano and Borno States, just as he expressed the resolve of the police in Kano to avert a spill over of the Bauchi crises to Kano.

A leader of the fundamentalist who carried out the attack at the Wudil Police Station, Abdulmumuni Ibrahim Mohammed, gave an insight into their motive, saying that the attacks were aimed at the elite who had embraced western values.

Mohammed, who hails from Nasarawa State and claim to have attended secondary school, also expressed opposition to the use of the 1999 Constitution to govern the country as well as urged the implementation of the Sharia legal code.

Following the crisis in Bauchi, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 12, Bauchi, Moses Anegbode, has described the Boko Haram as a criminal group who are parading themselves in the name of religion.

Addressing a press conference yesterday in Bauchi, Anegbode said Boko Haram was a threat to peace .

The AIG disclosed that 39 of the Boko Haram were killed in a confrontation in a joint security operation last Sunday in Bauchi while 176 of them were arrested and 15 injured.

He added that a Lance Corporal in the Army and two policemen were killed in the operations against the group.

According to him, the security operatives went after members of Boko Haram after they attacked a police station in Dutse Tanshi and opened fire during attempts to arrest them at their various hideouts in the Federal Low Cost Estate and Fadama Mada areas.

Anegbode said that in Maiduguri on that same Sunday, some members of the group despite the heavy security, came to a police station on a suicide mission with three motorcycles and sped towards the gate and set it ablaze.

He stated: " They forbid anything western, yet their leader has an array of western materials in their position and their usage. Even the phone, SUVs; I wonder if they were made by him. They are notorious for kidnappings, raping, intimidation and molestation and known to be anti-establishment,"

Anegbode revealed that dangerous weapons such as AK 47, 270 rounds of live ammunition, a single-barrel gun, three locally-made single barrel-guns, two locally-made revolver pistol, five rounds of 7.66 live ammunition, 500 rounds of 7.66 mm live ammunition, and 21 live cartridges were recovered from their enclave in Fadama Mada in Bauchi metropolis.

"The implication of this is that these men are armed with sophisticated guns like pump action guns, revolver pistols, AK 47 and lar rifle recovered from them. The operation is still ongoing. We are doing mop up operation so that these items can be recovered," he added.

According to him, two bags of lethal gun powder used for making explosives, 200 detonators, over 1,000 locally fabricated plastic cylinders that could be used for manufacture of local guns were also recovered from them, describing the items as dangerous substances that could be directed at society.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) yeste rday called for urgent implementation of a comprehensive reforms of the nation's intelligence community and the Nigeria police by the Federal Government to prevent the intermittent orgy of violence unleashed by religious fanatics in the country.

The human rights body in a statement endorsed by its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, condemned the violence unleashed by the members of the Boko Haram sect in Bauchi State at the weekend even as it called for a transparent judicial commission of inquiry to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the blood-bath and the prosecution of all perpetrators.

The group traced the recurrent religious violence in the country to the total lack of political will on the part of the Federal and state governments to charge perpetrators of all the previous religious riots to court to serve as deterrent.

HURIWA blamed the failure of intelligence on the part of the Nigeria Police and the State Security Service (SSS) for the escalation in religious and ethnic motivated killings in some parts of the North, including Maiduguri and Bauchi.

Also, seven suspected members of the Taleban group were arrested along Kwami Road in Gombe, the state capital and subjected to intensive interrogation at the Police Criminal Investigation Department.

The state Police Commissioner, Joseph Ahmed Ibi, disclosed this to journalists in Gombe yesterday, saying that the suspects told the police that they were on a mission to Kwami village to see some friends, noting that after investigation, the police would be able to establish whether they were actually going to see some friends as they claimed.

[Description of Source: Lagos The Guardian Online in English -- Website of the widely read independent daily, aimed at up-market readership; URL: http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/]

Nigeria: Islamic Group Leader Vows 'Not' To Surrender

AFP20090730565001 Ibadan Nigerian Tribune Online in English 30 Jul 09

[Report by James Bwala, Kola Oyelere, Ishola Michael and Dipo Laleye: "Again, Hundreds Killed in Maiduguri - Taliban Leader Says 'No Surrender' - We'll Bring him Down - Army - Islamic Militant's House, Mosque Demolished - 60 Arrested in Gombe, Kano - Policemen Mobilised in Niger - Governors Forum Condemns Militants' Action"]

The Islamic sect leader in Maiduguri, Mohammed Yusuf, on Wednesday, vowed not to surrender, as his group again engaged the military in a gun duel, leading to the killing of hundreds of the militants.

But the General Officer Commanding [GOC], 3 Armoured Division, Major-General Saleh Maina, said that whether he (Yusuf) surrendered or not, he and his men would be brought down. Yusuf was said to have told his men never to retreat, saying their fight was a just one.

The GOC said he was in Maiduguri to faithfully carry out President Umaru Yar'Adua's order. He said the presence of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) in Maiduguri was an indication that he was there to maintain law and order and total destruction of the sect.

According to the GOC, even after the destruction of Yusuf's camp and his "glorified mosque", the military would continue a house-to-house search to ensure that they cleared all his men hiding around the place.

General Maina said the Army and the police had taken over the area, adding that there was no escape route for Yusuf and his men. Meanwhile, hundreds of members of the sect were killed in a gun battle while the number of casualties among the military and police, was not disclosed.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the police and SSS [State Security Service] had mounted a roadblock outside the state capital, to capture members of the Yusuf sect.

In Kano State, hundreds of residents of Wudil town trooped out on Wednesday to watch the demolition of a house and mosque reportedly owned by the leader of an Islamic sect, Malam Salisu Al-jaswy, who last Monday attacked the police station and caused a chaotic situation in the town.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Baba Mohammed, told newsmen that normalcy had returned to Wudil town, adding that Kano State was safe and people could go about their normal business without entertaining any fear.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that the demolition was carried out because the structures were illegal. The demolition squad with bulldozer which were protected by armed policemen, arrived at Wudil town around 4.00 p.m.

The demolition, which was ordered by the state government, was completed within 30 minutes. The special adviser to the governor on Intercommunity Affairs, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, was also there to witness the demolition. He, however, assured the people of the area, especially the non-indigenes that they should not entertain any fear as adequate measures had been taken to protect life and property.

The PPRO told journalists that the number of arrested people had increased to 53, saying five people had so far died. SP Mohammed displayed the substance the militants used to manufacture bombs.

Among the items recovered were a dane gun, arrows, catapults, bullets, bottles, a sack of sulfur and potassium nitrate and charcoal. "Initial investigation by our anti-bomb squad confirmed that the combination produces an explosion capable of setting a target on ablaze," Muhammad said.

The chairman of Wudil Local Government, Alhaji Musa Adamu Darki, said that Al-jaswy had been resident in the town for over nine years and was not an indigene of Wudil, but came from Jos, Plateau State about nine years on the pretext of preaching Islam and teaching people the knowledge of Quran.

In a related development, even people persons suspected to be members of the notorious Islamic sect, Boko Haram currently engaged in a war with security operatives in Bauchi, Borno and Yobe states, have been arrested and are being interrogated by the Gombe State police command.

According to Gombe State Police Commissioner, Mr. Joseph Ahmed Ibi, the suspects were arrested on their way to Mallam Sidi, headquarters of Kwami Local Government Area, to meet their friends, but that the police insisted on knowing their identities.

Giving journalists an update of the command's proactive actions, the commissioner stated that it was premature for the command to tag the arrested men Islamic militants until investigation confirmed them.

He said no fewer than 3,000 policemen were on surveillance duty in the state and patrols had been organised while checkpoints had been mounted. He apologised to road users inconvenienced by the search on people and vehicles.

Meanwhile, the Gombe Police command has arrested two people suspected to be kidnappers. Two girls aged between 7 and 10 accused the suspects of attempting to kidnap them at Kwadon town, Yamaltu-Deba Local Government Area.

According to the Commissioner of Police, investigation would determine whether or not they were kidnappers. Meanwhile, heavily armed mobile policemen have been mobilised to areas described as red spots in Niger State to forestall any attempt by Muslim fundamentalists to strike in the state.

Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Richard Oguche, told the Nigerian Tribune in an interview on Wednesday that areas where the Force was expecting an outbreak of violence included Tegina, Mokwa, Bokani and Gwada, where a large group of Muslim fundamentalists reside.

According to Oguche, 30 armed mobile men had been deployed in these towns apart from the regular policemen who had been placed on red alert to give back up to their colleagues.

Apart from this, the police spokesman said that the force had also deployed officers and men in the major highways where 'stop and search' would be carried out on all vehicles coming or going out of the state.

The step was taken to prevent those fleeing from the troubled areas of the North from entering the state to foment trouble, he added. "We are on top of the situation. The people should go about their lawful business without any let or hindrance," Oguche declared.

The police spokesman reminded the people that they had to continue to remain law abiding and report suspicious movements of people to the nearest police station.

In a related development, the Northern Governors forum on Wednesday reacted sharply to the recent religious crisis plaguing some parts of the northern part of the country, saying such crisis had been responsible for the slow pace of economic growth in the region.

"The North has experienced several acts of violence from which nothing positive had come. Rather, the region was further pushed back into deprivation, underdevelopment, poverty, ignorance and the like," the forum said through its chairman and governor of Niger State, Dr. Mua'zu Babangida Aliyu.

"Now is the time for complete unity and peace that will enable our people to enjoy the good things of life under a democratic government," Aliyu said in a statement condemning the sectarian clashes that broke out in Bauchi Maiduguri and Kano cities.

[Description of Source: Ibadan Nigerian Tribune Online in English -- Website of the privately owned daily; URL: http://www.tribune.com.ng]

Sectarian Violence in Northern Nigeria Reportedly Claims 300 Lives

AFP20090730565002 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 30 Jul 09

[Report by Mohammed Abubakar, Njadvara Musa, Adamu Abuh and Charles Akpeji: "Fighting Rages, Death Toll Hits 300 in Borno; Schools, Govt Offices, Hospitals Shut; Sect's Leader Uses Children as Shield; AC, Others Condemn Yar'Adua's Absence"]

Heavy bombardments by the nation's forces on suspected strongholds of Boko Haram, the northern-based Islamic sect that is championing a 'Jihad' (holy war) in the region, continued yesterday.

Unconfirmed reports said that the death toll from the clash had risen to 300 while thousands of the residents had been displaced in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

The leader of the sect, Mohammed Yusuf, was reportedly using some residents of the heart of the clashes, the Maiduguri Railway Terminus Areas (MRTA), as human shield.