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

Other items recovered by the team, according to the commissioner, are: one Nokia (1100) handset, bows and arrows, daggers, machetes, catapults, knives, a copy of the Holy Quran, N25,300 [Naira] in cash as well as a Peugeot J5 with registration number XA 888 MKA and another Hiace bus with registration number XB 591 KTG.

The commissioner who solicited the support of the public towards arresting the feeing members of the sect said some of them would be seen with fresh bullet wounds.

Meanwhile, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam has described the sect, led by Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, as an embarrassment to Islam and called on governors of northern Nigeria to rise up and address economic and social problems in order the encourage youths to desist from restiveness.

Gaidam, who was at the state police headquarters were he saw the corpses of the 33 sect members, wondered how the youths were persuaded to join the sect which he said "did not reflect the true meaning of Islam in all respect."

He said: "Islam is a religion of peace which preaches peace and peaceful coexistence. There is nowhere in the Holy Qur'an that a Muslim should kill his fellow brother or any other innocent soul."

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

Nigeria: Gombe State Police Arrest 7 'Suspected' Members of Islamic Group

AFP20090730565012 Lagos This Day Online in English 30 Jul 09

[Report by Segun Awofadeji: "7 Suspected Boko Haram Members Arrested in Gombe"]

Seven persons suspected to be members of the notorious Islamic sect, Boko Haram, currently engaged in war with security operatives in Bauchi, Borno and Yobe states, have been arrested by Gombe State Police Command.

Police Commissioner, Joseph Ahmed Ibi, said the suspects were arrested on their way to Mallam Sidi, headquarters of Kwami Local Government Area. Giving reporters an update, Ibi said it was premature for the Command to tag them as Islamic militants until investigation confirms them as members of the group.

He said no fewer than 3,000 Policemen are on surveillance duty in the state and patrols had been organised, with checkpoints mounted. He appealed for co-operation and apologised for inconvenience this may cause motorists and passengers.

In a related development, the Command also arrested two persons suspected to be kidnappers, in possession of two little girls, between seven and 10 years of age, at Kwadon, Yamaltu - Deba Local Government Council.

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

Nigeria: Clip of Suspected Chadians Fighting Alongside Boko Haram Sect

AFM20090730641002 Abuja Abuja African Independent Television in English 1030 GMT 30 Jul 09

[Corrected version: Providing source time and subslug information; For assistance with multimedia elements, contact OSC at 1-800-205-8615 or oscinfo@rccb.osis.gov.]

Kano State police arrested 33 suspected Chadian nationals believed to have fought alongside the Boko Haram sect during its 28 July confrontation with the police.

Click here to view the 122-second video.

[Description of Source: Abuja African Independent Television in English -- Privately owned independent television station]

Nigeria: Islamic Extremist Bogo Haram School found in Jalingo, Taraba State

AFP20090730614009 Abuja Cool FM in English 0545 GMT 30 Jul 09

An Islamic school belonging to the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, has been found in Jalingo, Taraba State capital.

The school with the name Afugaram Islamic School was found in Angwan Lamiyah behind the Motor traffic division of the state command of the Nigerian Police Force.

Chairman of the state chapter of the Muslim Council, Inuwa Jaruwa Umar, said some of his children were attending the school but they were withdrawn when they learnt about the curriculum.

[Description of Source: Abuja Cool FM in English - privately owned, independent radio]

Nigeria: Police Kill 33 Boko Haram Militants in Taraba State

AFP20090730614008 Abuja Radio Nigeria-Abuja in English 2100 GMT 29 Jul 09

In Taraba State, Thirty-three suspected militants of the Boko Haram group were today killed during a clash with a joint security team at Mamodu Village near Potiskum.

The state police commissioner, Alhaji Muritala Abbas, who displayed the dead bodies to newsmen in Damaturu, confirmed that the men attacked destroyed the Potiskum Police Station on Monday [27 Jul].

According to the police commissioner, the militants were trapped in the village after burning the police station.

He explained that security men swoop on the area following an intelligent report.

[Description of Source: Abuja Radio Nigeria-Abuja in English -- Federal government-owned, independent radio]

Nigeria: Joint Security Team Kills Islamic Extremist's Leader, 200 Followers

AFP20090730606006 Abuja Punch in English 30 Jul 09 p 1

A combined team of policemen and soldiers on 30 July morning killed the deputy leader of the self-styled Nigerian Taliban aka Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekarau, and 200 followers, as they tried to flee the Borno State capital, Maiduguri. A police officer said the troops pounded many of the trouble-spots in pursuit of fleeing members of the extremist sect, on the fifth day of gun battles that have left more than 600 people dead and thousands displaced. Residents heard sounds of heavy and light machine gun fire rattling across some sections of Maiduguri not previously targeted by the deadly clashes. The latest gun battles came just hours after the army announced the bolstering of its ranks with 1,000 more soldiers to fight members of the self-styled Taliban sect.

"Up to this morning fighting is still continuing and from where we are we can hear the sound of heavy and light machine guns," Mala Bukar, a resident of an adjacent neighborhood said. The army commander of the anti-Taliban operation, Colonel Ben Ahonotu, said members of the fundamentalist sect fled their bases in Maiduguri on 29 July after the military overran their mosque and leader’s compound.

Ahonotu said, "We have taken over their enclave, they are on the run, and we are going after them." Residents said they saw scores of militants fleeing through their area on 29 July, heading out of the city, some of them disguising themselves by cutting off their hair and beards. "We spotted dozens members of Boko Haram fleeing. They stopped by briefly, shaved their hair and beard and discarded their trademark jellabiyah [white Arabic caftans] for tee-shirts and jeans, and moved on. They crossed the Gamboru market river and disappeared from there," " Hamad Bulunkutu, a resident of the area said.

Even as they fled, the militants burnt a police station on Wednesday night in the heat of gun battles in Maiduguri. "A large crowd of Boko Haram members stormed the police station around 10pm [2100 GMT] and set it on fire," said Umar Shitu, a resident who witnessed the attack. Maiduguri has seen the worst of the unrest, which started on 26 July in Bauchi State when militants attacked a police station. President Yar’Adua had ordered the armed forces to crush the movement "once and for all." Fighting on 29 July concentrated on enclaves of Maiduguri, believed to house the sect’s leader Mohammed Yusuf. The death toll from the clashes has already surged past 600 and thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes to escape the violence.

[Description of Source: Abuja Punch in English - independent news daily]

Nigeria: Government To Collate Data on Abducted Children by Islamic Sect

AFP20090730614010 Abuja Rhythm FM in English 1100 GMT 30 Jul 09

The Plateau State government has opened a register to collate data of children allegedly abducted by the Boko Haram Islamic sect just as clashes between the sect and the security men continued yesterday in Yobe and Borno States.

The commissioner for information in the state, Gregory Yenlong, who gave the indication said the register would be located at the Plateau State police headquarters.

He urged parents whose children are missing to come forward and make a complaints to enable the government trace them.

The Islamic militant group is believed to have abducted children [words indistinct] to receive Islamic education and relocated them to Borno State.

[Description of Source: Abuja Rhythm FM in English - privately owned, independent radio]

Nigeria: Security Team Rescues 180 Women, Children Held Captive by Islamic Sect

AFP20090730606007 Abuja Leadership in English 30 Jul 09 p 1

A total of 63 persons believed to be members of the religious sect, Boko Haram, lost their lives in two separate shoot-outs between the militants and security agents in Maiduguri and Damaturu yesterday. Also, security sources said last night that the sect leader, Mohammad Yusuf, disappeared mysteriously from his house in Maiduguri, which was surrounded by soldiers. LEADERSHIP could not confirm whether or not his disappearance was after or before the soldiers besieged his house. In Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, at least 30 people were killed yesterday in a fresh gun battle as security forces stepped up their hunt for members of the sect, while in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, another 33 members of the sect died in a shoot-out with the police in a village near Pokistum yesterday.

President Yar'Adua had on 28 July ordered the deployment of soldiers to the troubled states in the north to quell the uprising that has claimed over 400 lives. Commissioner of Police in Yobe State, Mohammed Abbas Murtala, confirmed that 33 persons believed to be members of the sect were killed and various dangerous weapons were recovered from them. Besides the death toll, another 47 youths, the police said, were arrested.

Another 1,000 soldiers were yesterday deployed to northern states to reinforce troops battling the sect after four days of deadly clashes, a military source said. "We really want to get this job done in the shortest possible time, therefore, we have received reinforcements of 1,000 troops," said a source who asked not to be named because of military protocol. "They arrived this afternoon to complement troops on the ground," the source said in Maiduguri, the base of the self-styled Nigerian Taliban who had fought security forces since 26 July.

The soldiers were flown in from Calabar, the capital city of Cross River State. Troops have struggled since 27 July to clamp down on the radical Islamist sect that went on a rampage, torching government buildings and sparking fierce clashes with security forces.

Four days have seen the death toll surging past 300 and thousands of people forced from their homes, the majority in Maiduguri. Fighting yesterday was centered around five neighborhoods and was at its most intense in Bayan Quarters where the sect's leader Mohammed Yusuf was based.

Yusuf's home was shelled by forces 28 July night, along with a mosque where many of his followers had gathered, but Yusuf appeared to have escaped. A police source said earlier in the day that the offensive to rout the militants was likely to take longer than previously thought. President Umaru Yar'Adua, who placed troops on maximum alert on 27 July, had been optimistic the rebels would be routed within a day. "We have the situation under control now and I believe that by the end of the day, everything would have been taken care of," Yar'Adua told reporters 28 July night.

Security forces have freed about 200 women and children during a crackdown on the sect. Soldiers in armored personnel carriers surrounded and shelled parts of a compound that is home to Yusuf, destroying buildings including a small mosque. The preacher's whereabouts were unknown. Joint military and armed police patrols went from house to house searching for his followers, arresting more than 100 people. Police said they had freed 180 women and children whose husbands and fathers were among Yusuf's followers. Members of the sect say their wives should not be seen by other men and that their children should receive only a Qur'anic education.

"The soldiers and police are now combing the whole city of Maiduguri, going from house to house searching for followers of the Boko Haram," Maiduguri resident Adamu Yari said. "Hundreds of the members have been arrested," he said, adding that the sound of military bombardments from the area around Yusuf's compound had continued throughout the night.

In Kano police said they had arrested 53 Boko Haram followers, including the second in command in the state, and destroyed the local leader's home and mosque on the orders of Governor Ibrahim Shekarau. They said the men had been found with home-made guns and explosives and were believed to be planning attacks. Arrests have also been made in Sokoto. Yar'Adua has ordered the security forces to take all necessary action and warned that the leader of the group wants to declare a "fully fledged holy war."

"These people have been organized and are penetrating our society and procuring arms and gathering information on how to make explosions and bombs to force their view on the rest of Nigerians," Yar'Adua said. "We are going to continue with security surveillance all over the northern states and fish out any remnant of this group and deal with them promptly." Boko Haram followers -- who include some university lecturers and students as well as illiterate, jobless youths -- wear long beards and red or black headscarves and recognize only their own interpretation of Shari’a law.

"Poverty, injustice, and the inability of the government of the day to implement the Shari’a legal system is the reason why the sect is calling for a change of leadership for Nigeria," Kadiru Atiku, the group's leader in Sokoto, told reporters after his arrest on 28 July.

Muslim clerics yesterday in Lagos slammed the violence in the north as criminal and an embarrassment to the religion. "It's unfortunate and an embarrassment to the Muslims," Abdulkarim Mohazu, secretary general of Nigeria's Jama'atul Nasril Islam, an umbrella body of Muslims in the country said. He said the organization was calling an emergency meeting of Nigerian Islamic scholars to discuss the developments and map out ways to help the government tackle the violence.

"Up till now we don't know who the perpetrators are, but this is totally criminal and not good at all," Mohazu said. "Had we known these people, we would have asked their leaders to show us which part of the Qur'an which says Western education is a sin. We hope government can help us find these people so we can talk to them."

The Haram Boko extremists emerged in 2002 in Maiduguri, before setting up a camp on the border with Niger, from where they launched a series of attacks against the police. Maiduguri remains the group's base and stronghold. In Nasarawa State, government has beefed up security to forestall any outbreak of crisis. The state governor, Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma, summoned a meeting of security chiefs at Government House, Lafia, to intensify effort in ensuring that the crisis did not spill into the state.

As part of the measures taken to ensure harmonious co-existence in the state, the governor approved the appointment Alhaji Auwalu Mohammed Ali and Very Rev. Nehemiah Viaga Swende as senior special assistants on Islam and Christianity. The state police commissioner, Shehu Babalola, has mapped out strategies to combat any crisis in the state. During the meeting that lasted over 40 minutes, he said all security operatives were detailed to remain vigilant on the possible of any outbreak of violence. Traditional rulers were asked to report any suspicious persons in their locality.

Meanwhile, Maiduguri streets remained empty yesterday while communications networks were badly affected as all the major GSM networks were destroyed by the sect members. A Superintendent of police who did not want his name in print accused the sect members of destroying the communication network, but added that security agencies in the state were working hard to restore effective communication. Sources also revealed to our reporter that the assistant commander of the sect was arrested by security agencies and was undergoing interrogation. The prices of foodstuff and other essential commodities skyrocketed in the city as market remained closed and transportation of food items became a difficult task.

Also an unnamed Nigerian official said yesterday that about 4,000 people have so far fled their homes in Maiduguri as troops and militants’ gun battles entered its fourth day. The National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Apollus Jediel said about 1,000 people fled their homes in Maiduguri on 29 July alone. His agency urged state governments to send relief goods to help the displaced people.

[Description of Source: Abuja Leadership in English - Privately owned daily]

Nigeria: Sectarian Violence Claims More Than 300 Lives in North

FEA20090730877081 - OSC Feature - The Guardian Online 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.

In Jalingo, Taraba State, security agents have located a school where the sect trains its members while in Kano, the state government has demolished a mosque used by the armed group.

A senior government official in Maiduguri claimed that 4,000 people had fled their homes as troops and militants engaged in battles for the fourth day.

The opposition Action Congress (AC) has described President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's trip to Brazil in the face of the crisis as ill-timed.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Apollus Jediel said about 1,000 people fled their homes in Maiduguri yesterday alone and appealed to the state government to assist the displaced persons.

Militants seeking to impose Sharia law throughout the multi-religious country attacked a police station in Bauchi State on Sunday. The violence spread to three other states, hundreds of people are reported to have been killed in the violence. Police said most of the victims were militants.

Yusuf's residence was shelled by troops on Tuesday evening, along with a mosque where many of his followers meet, but he allegedly escaped.

"The house and the mosque have been pulverised and reduced to rubble. To be honest with you I don't think the campaign will be finished within the next day or two," a police officer said.

Yesterday, the Borno State government advised residents of the six areas adjoining the scene of the fighting to stay indoors as the attack on the militants continued, to avoid being hit by stray bullets. The areas include Kumshe, Floor Mills, Kasuwan Shanu, State Low Cost, Kofar Biyu and Gamboru Police Station.

The police in Borno also said yesterday that they had concluded arrangement to return the 180 women and children allegedly lured to Maiduguri from Bauchi and nine others from Bukuru in Plateau State under the guise that they were going for Islamic Jihad.

Police spokesman, Isa Azare, commended the state government for its pledge to assist the command transfer the women and children back to their Bauchi base.

He said the Deputy Governor, Adamu Shettima Dibal, has promised the state government's financial assistance to the police to enable them transport the people back to their places, but it was not clear as at press time if the promise had been fulfilled.

Azare would, however, not give the exact details of the casualties, saying it was difficult to give a precise figure, given the fact that the operation was on-going. "You know it is not appropriate to give any figure of casualties now, because, apart from the sects members that were killed, there are a good number of policemen that are still missing. Until after the operation when the coast becomes clearer, nobody can give a definite number of those who have lost their lives."

But The Guardian learnt that the two hospitals in the state capital had been finding it difficult to accommodate the growing number of victims. For instance, it was learnt that the mortuary of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) had been filled to capacity. As a result, bodies were being dumped at the car park, at the Umaru Shehu Ultra Modern Hospital, Bulumkutu.

However, concerns were being raised as the expected capture of Yusuf appeared far- fetched given the inability of the combined military and police operations to capture the sect leader, who, is said to be taking human shields to avoid arrest. As a resident told The Guardian, the military is incapacitated by the fact that Yusuf had tactically resorted to human shields to avoid arrest.

For instance, at the Shehu North, men of the Operation Flush 11 were seen beating a retreat having been overwhelmed by the high number of the sect members who were said to be coming out in their hundreds from their hide-outs. The area is close to the palace of the Shehu of Borno.

Col. Ben Ahanotu, commander of Operation Flush 11, confirmed the fears as he said residents taken hostage, including women and children of the sect members, numbered over 1,500, adding that "we cannot raze down Yusuf's residence and the mosques right now (yesterday). There are a lot of people in the houses in the MRTA and two main residential areas of Maiduguri and Jere council areas."

A statement by the Director of Press Affairs to the Governor, Usman Chiroma, also confirmed that Yusuf and his followers were using the civil populace as cover".

He quoted Governor Ali Modu Sheriff as advising all residents of the affected areas to stay indoors to avoid endangering their lives.

Maj.-Gen. Saleh Maina, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3rd Armoured Division, Jos, who is leading the offensive, ordered his men to suspend the shelling to allow civilians to move out of the area to reduce human casualties, because the fundamentalists live in the State Low Cost Estate, Shehu and Abaganaram."

The Guardian further learnt that at about 1p.m. yesterday, the five armoured tanks deployed to the MRTA, were stationed 500 metres away from the sect's stronghold. One of the armoured carriers was on Tuesday attacked and its tyre was punctured, while advancing towards Yusuf's house and mosque.

While a combined force of 500 soldiers and policemen took strategic positions at all the entries to the area, Ahanotu, in a message to The Guardian disclosed that more than 65 sect members were killed while they were fleeing the platoon soldiers to Yusuf's house and mosque.

He said the joint military and police was able to arrest the second in command to the leader of the sect, Bukar Shekau, while Yusuf, was still with some members holed up in the house. Unconfirmed reports claimed that before the capture of Shekau, both men were sighted in military camouflage. Shekau, according to military intelligence sources at the Maiduguri Government House, is providing useful information and means of arresting Yusuf and his armed members.

Meanwhile, all schools, markets, banks, the Maiduguri Monday Market and Musa Usman Secretariat complex that houses 18 ministries and parastatals have remained closed. Besides, the major streets in the metropolis, including the ever-busy Post Office-Airport Road and Shehu Laminu Way that lead to the MRTA were deserted.