Nigeria: Report Gives Details, Says Terrorist Groups Gaining Foothold in Nigeria

Boko Haram, meaning "Western education is a taboo" is a Nigerian Islamist group that seeks the imposition of Shariah law in the northern states of Nigeria and operating with an undefined structure and chain of command. Its official name is Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means "people committed to the propagation of the prophet's teachings and jihad."

In Bauchi, the group, which includes members who come from neighboring Chad and speak only in Arabic was reported as refusing to mix with the local people.

[Description of Source: Lagos National Daily in English - independent weekly news magazine]

AFP: Witnesses Say Suspected Islamists Kill Nigerian Reporter

EUP20111022756001 Paris AFP (North American Service) in English 22 Oct 11

["Suspected Islamists kill Nigerian reporter: witnesses" -- AFP headline]

Gunmen suspected to be members of the radical Boko Haram sect on Saturday shot dead a television journalist in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, witnesses said.

Zakariyya Isa, a reporter with the state-run Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), was shot dead around 7:30 pm in front of his house in Bulunkutu area of the city shortly after leaving the mosque, witness Malam Musa Jafaru told AFP.

"We just finished Ishai (Moslem) prayer and he left us," he said.

"Then after some few minutes we heard a loud sound and when we came out we saw Zakariyya in front of his house in a pool of his blood."

He said the gunmen had trailed the reporter, who was a popular Hausa translator and newscaster with the Maiduguri office of NTA, to his house, a few meters from the mosque before opening fire on him.

Muhammed Musa, a manager with NTA, said: "I was called and told that one of my employees had been shot dead."

The attack happened in the northern city of Maiduguri, which has been hit by a string of deadly bomb and gun attacks attributed to Boko Haram.

While most of its attacks have occurred in Nigeria's northeast, Boko Haram also claimed responsibility for the August 26 bomb blast at UN headquarters in Abuja that killed at least 23 people.

Saturday's killing was the first of its kind targeting journalists in the violence-wracked city.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the killing, last month, Boko Haram threatened in a statement in Maiduguri to attack media organisations, particularly some foreign media, over what it described as misrepresentation of its activities in the country.

Boko Haram has claimed to be fighting for the establishment of an Islamic state in Nigeria, whose 150 million population is roughly divided in half between Christians and Muslims.

The sect launched an uprising in 2009 put down by a military assault which left hundreds dead, as well as its mosque and headquarters in Maiduguri in ruins.

[Description of Source: Paris AFP (North American Service) in English -- North American service of the independent French press agency Agence France-Presse]

Nigeria: Islamic Militants Claim Responsibility For The Death Of a Journalist

AFP20111027667001 Jigawa Jigawa Radio in Hausa 1630 GMT 24 Oct 11

[From]

Members of the Boko Haram sect have claimed responsibility for the killing of a cameraman with the Nigerian Television Authority, Maiduguri Network Center, Zakariyya Isa, saying he was killed over alleged spying. The group which made this known in a statement to newsmen added that Zakariyya was killed because he spied on the group through giving information to security agents which led to the arrest of many of their members. The statement further said "Zakariyya was warned to desist from such action but ignored the warning. "Spying is against the ethic of journalism and so he is to be blamed for his death. So no one spy on us and get away with it." It should be recalled that Zakariyya was killed at the weekend in front of his house at Bulunkutu area of Maiduguri.

Nigeria: Islamist Sect, Boko Haram, Rejects Government's Peace Initiative

AFP20110923636016 Ouagadougou Le Pays Online in French 20 Sep 11

[Report by Séni DABO: "Boko Haram in Nigeria: An Islamist Time Bomb for West Africa"]

"Negotiation" and "dialogue" are words that are, seemingly, absent from the dictionary of the Nigerian Islamist sect, Boko Haram. And woe betides any member who dares to use these words! He could be, severely, punished. That is what happened to Babakura Fugu, brother-in-law of the deceased guru of the sect (Mohammed Yusuf) on 17 September, when fellow members riddled him with bullets at his home. His crime was that, on the eve, he attended a meeting in Maiduguru between the family of the former sect leader and the former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, whose objective was to convince Boko Haram to come back to the negotiation table. In passing, the assailants of the guru's brother-in-law warned Obasanjo, whose move is, apparently, backed by President Goodluck. The Allah extremists promised him the same fate, if he did not stop the initiative, immediately. This clear message, unfortunately, thwarts every effort to find a solution to the problem.

Until then, the Abuja regime had always been accused of using only repressive measures against the sect. But the assassination of its guru has not stopped them. The tragic incident seems instead to have hardened the movement, which is no longer contented just with attacking Christians, churches and police stations in its Maiduguru stronghold. They have also started attacking people outside the area, as seen in the suicide bomb attack, perpetrated at the UN Headquarters in Abuja (claimed by the movement), on 26 August, and which officially killed 23 people. Could this "feat" be the reason why Boko Haram has decided to close the door to any dialogue? Or has its connection with Al-Qaida in the Lands of Islamic Maghreb (AQLIM) made it to grow wings?

The former Nigerian president's initiative is an olive branch that the sect has refused to take. The rejection of the government's peace initiative of resolving to negotiate with the sect, after using force, could hide the complete absence of a platform, apart from the rejection of Western culture, and, consequently, a withdrawal. Besides, that should not be very surprising for a sect founded, generally, on a guru's spiritual enlightenment. This sect is characterized by religious extremism and obscurantism, which is far from the values of tolerance that are, however, advocated by Islam, which its members go by to persecute Christians, carry out attacks and reject Western culture. Its connection with AQLIM is transforming the sect into a terrorist movement. From that point of view, it is no longer a threat only to Nigeria. The entire West African subregion is a potential target. Just like AQLIM, Boko Haram can take its terror to other countries and carry out attacks there.

A subregional institution like Ecowas should be more and more worried about this possibility and devote a head of states' summit to this serious threat that Boko Haram represents. If it can organize a mini-summit for heads of state and a meeting with military chiefs of staff to talk about the level of insecurity on the Ivorian-Liberian border, it should also be able to organize one on the West African Islamist time bomb that Boko Haram is becoming. Ecowas would do well to take this insecurity problem, seriously. But will the heads of state move, quickly, or give themselves all the time, as has been the case for years now, concerning security in the Sahelo-Saharan strip threatened by AQLIM? That is the whole point.

[Description of Source: Ouagadougou Le Pays Online in French -- Website of the privately owned, pro-opposition daily; URL: http://www.lepays.bf]

Officials, Experts Say Al-Qa'ida Establishing Links in Troubled African States

EUP20111030102009 Paris AFP (North European Service) in English 0920 GMT 30 Oct 11

["Al-Qaeda Could Be Drawn to Troubled African States" -- AFP headline]

PARIS, Oct 30, 2011 (AFP) -- Al-Qaeda could be seeking new sanctuaries in unstable African nations and the continent's disparate armed Islamist groups may forge closer ties under the Al-Qaeda umbrella, experts and officials warned.

The organisation founded by the late Saudi-born Osama bin Laden has largely been driven out of former safe-haven Afghanistan, and it has been battered by US drone attacks across the border in Pakistan, leaving it in need of new bases.

Al-Qaeda has already established links with a number of African Islamist groups.

Its declared north Africa affiliate is Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Somalia's Shebab also swore allegiance to bin Laden, who was killed by US commandos in May.

"Al-Qaeda traditionally has taken advantage of areas that are wracked by conflict, turmoil and lack of government. It is a safe haven they seek to launch attacks," said John Brennan, US President Barack Obama's top anti-terrorism official.

Somalia, without a stable government since 1991 and currently led by a weak government that is largely confined to the capital Mogadishu, could therefore be an ideal sanctuary, Brennan said.

"Somalia is one of the most challenging areas of the world because it has this internal conflict, it has such a devastating famine, and it is an area that Al-Qaeda has tried regularly to exploit," he added.

AQIM has been linked to attacks and kidnappings across north Africa.

And the already volatile region was further destabilised by the months-long conflict in Libya, which may have flooded the region with weapons once controlled by Moamer Kadhafi's fallen regime, officials said.

Vast, sparsely populated areas across countries such as Mauritania, Mali and Algeria could also offer senior Al-Qaeda leaders a safe haven, some officials said.

Although Nigeria has little appeal as a territorial base, the Boko Haram Islamist group there is also thought to have ideological links to Al-Qaeda.

Boko Haram claimed responsibility for August's suicide bomb attack in Abuja at the UN headquarters in Nigeria that killed 24 people.

Shebab, AQIM and Boko Haram are "each individually of concern," US general Carter Ham, who heads the Africa command, said recently in Washington.

"But what really concerns me is at least a stated intent for those organisations to link and synchronise their efforts," he added.

"That, to me, would be a very, very dangerous outcome for us."

The Abuja blasts highlight this fear, as Nigerian police have said that Boko Haram's number two, Mamman Nur, spent time in Somalia with the Shebab before returning to Nigeria in July to plan the attacks.

The suicide bombing carried out by a driver in an explosives-packed car also had the stamp of Al-Qaeda methodology.

Relations between the Shebab and Al-Qaeda are well-established.

In mid-October, a video appeared on a jihadist site showing a young masked man, who identified himself as Abu Abdullah al-Mouhajir, filmed in an area of Somalia controlled by the Shebab.

Speaking in English, he said he had been sent to Somalia by Ayman al-Zawahiri, who succeeded bin Laden as Al-Qaeda's chief.

Roger Middleton, an East Africa specialist at London's Chatham House think tank, sees a risk of even closer ties between the Shebab and Al-Qaeda.

"Some of the leadership of Shebab are pretty committed to the idea of global jihad and rebuilding the Caliphate and all these kind of ideas," he said.

"Some of them fought in Afghanistan and come from that kind of background, so there are certainly international links but they are pretty busy in Somalia," he added.

"There probably are ideologically some similarities, but I don't have any evidence of operational cooperation."

[Description of Source: Paris AFP in English -- North European Service of independent French press agency Agence France-Presse]

Nigeria: Suspected Boko Haram Militants Bomb Maiduguri

AFP20111030667001 Kano Freedom Radio in English 1900 GMT 30 Oct 11

[From]

The report however explained that residents in the area of the incident were seen fleeing for fear of possible military invasion.

Maiduguri has come under series of bomb attacks in recent times which make it one of the deadliest cities in the world.

[Description of Source: Kano Freedom Radio in English -- independent radio]

Nigeria: Police Arrest Suspected Islamic Sect Member With Explosives in Borno

AFP20111103598007 Ibadan Nigerian Tribune Online in English 03 Nov 11

[Report by James Bwala: "Boko Haram Wraps Bombs as Sallah Gifts; Police Arrest Bomb Makers, Recover Bombs, Guns"]

A major disaster in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, was on Wednesday foiled by the police, as the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram, had planned to present cleverly wrapped bombs as Sallah gifts to some individuals in the state.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Simeon Midenda, said on Wednesday that the command had arrested a 23-year-old member of the sect, Sheriff Shettima, who was the arrowhead of the plans.

Shettima, the police boss said, was trained in bomb making and had led some major operations of the sect in the past.

Addressing newsmen, Mr Midenda said that Shettima was arrested in his house in Maiduguri metropolis, where explosives, guns and ammunition, which he confessed were initially prepared to bomb the headquarters of Borno State police command, were recovered.

The police boss said that the suspect confessed that the bombing of the police headquarters could not be done because of an emergency journey he made to Kano to transact some business.

The suspect, according to the police, revealed that some of the explosives were meant to be wrapped as gifts for people during sallah, adding that "the receivers of the gifts might not suspect that these are IEDs."

The police boss said, "these people would have succeeded but for God's intervention, adding, "with the arrest of Sheriff Shettima and by extension, the recovery of arms and ammunition, the command has averted a major disaster that was to befall Maiduguri and mar peaceful celebration of the forthcoming Eid-el-Kabir."

Mr Midenda said that the police also recovered one SMG rifle (French made) with 104 rounds of live ammunition, empty ammunition chains, two Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), two pairs of military uniform, three empty ammunition boxes and three gallons of highly inflammable liquid.

The police commissioner also said that Shettima confessed that his team was responsible for some robbery operations in the state to raise funds for the sect, adding that the team robbed FirstBank Nigeria Plc, Damboa branch, where they killed one Corporal Yohanna Ishaya, a policeman on guard duty, and stole N21,992,890.00 on October 12, 2011, while the gang was also responsible for the attack on the same bank in May 2011 as well as the Kala Balge Local Government salary robbery incident, in which an inspector of police and a police constable as well as the local government cashier were killed.

The police boss said the suspect also led the police investigating team to 25 different houses of his accomplices in Maiduguri metropolis, with a view to arresting them, but lamented that all the houses were found to have been abandoned by their occupants.

Also speaking on the recent snatching of vehicles at gunpoint in Maiduguri, the commissioner said the police had arrested one Idi Umar, a notorious robbery suspect, following the confession by one of his gang members, Idi Musa.

He said one AK47 rifle with 57 rounds of live ammunition were recovered from him, while three vehicles, number plates and vehicle documents were found in his possession.

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

Nigeria: Military Recovers 1,000 Firearms in Maiduguri Arms Mop-up

AFP20111104606002 Lagos Vanguard in English 03 Nov 11 p 2

[Report by Ola Ajayi and Gabriel Enogholase: "JTF recovers 1,000 firearms in Maiduguri arms mop-up"]

Soldiers from a special military unit deployed to end the violence in the city of Maiduguri on Tuesday launched a house-to-house search for weapons following an 31 October deadline for residents to turn in weapons. A military unit’s spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Mohammed, said they have recovered at least 1,000 firearms in the first 24 hours of the exercise as residents who had been afraid to declare their arms rushed to drop them off at various designated collection points or simply left them by the roadside. Towns and villages near Maiduguri city, the epicenter of frequent gun and bomb attacks by suspected sect members in recent months, are also targeted in the arms clean-up operation.

Also a purported spokesman for a Nigerian Islamist sect has dismissed an arms mop up exercise by soldiers in the restive city of Maiduguri as a ploy to disarm residents ahead of a suspected crackdown. In a conference call with journalists in the northeastern city, a man identifying himself as a spokesman for the Boko Haram sect that has been behind strings of deadly attacks in recent months, called on the city’s residents not to give in to what he called a trick by the military.

"I call on the people of Maiduguri not to give in to this deception because it will amount to mortgaging your freedom and your enemies will attack you with ease," said Abu Qaqa. Qaqa has claimed to speak on behalf of the radical sect on several previous occasions but Boko Haram is believed to have a number of factions and several others have identified themselves as spokesmen as well. "Your arms are your only protection and the aim of disarming you is to render you defenseless and hopeless when the military launches its planned attack on you," said Qaqa. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the August 26 UN bombing that killed at least 24 people in Abuja.

[Description of Source: Lagos Vanguard in English -- Independent widely read daily]

Al Jazeera.net: Multiple Explosions Target Nigerian City

GMP20111104966108 Doha Al Jazeera.net in English 1640 GMT 04 Nov 11

["Multiple Explosions Target Nigerian City" -- Al Jazeera net Headline]

[ Computer selected and disseminated without OSC editorial intervention ]

(Al Jazeera net) -

Several explosions have hit a university and a military base in Nigeria's troubled northeastern city of Maiduguri.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but authorities said they suspected Boko Haram, a radical Muslim group which has carried out a succession of attacks in and around the city, was responsible.

Borno state police commissioner Simeon Midenda said one blast detonated around noon outside an Islamic college where parents had gathered.

Witnesses told The Associated Press news agency they had seen six people being taken from the scene in ambulances, but a security source told Reuters it was unclear whether there were any casualties.

A short time later, suicide bombers driving a black SUV attempted to enter a base for the military unit charged with protecting the city from Boko Haram fighters, a military spokesperson told AP.

The SUV couldn't enter the gate and those inside detonated explosives outside the base, damaging several buildings in the military's compound, according to Hassan Ifijeh Mohammed, the spokesman.

Mohammed said only a few soldiers suffered "minor injuries" from the attack. But AP said Mohammed's claims could not be immediately verified and the police commissioner declined to say how many people had been wounded.

Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sacrilege", has staged numerous targeted assassinations and bombings around Maiduguri over the last year, killing more than 240 people this year alone, according to AP figures.

In recent months, the group appears to have abandoned some of its previous restraint in only targeting government and security officials.

In August, it claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria's capital Abuja, which killed 24 people and left another 116 wounded.

[Description of Source: Doha Al Jazeera.net in English -- Website of the Al Jazeera English TV, international English-language news service of Al-Jazirah, independent television station financed by the Qatari Government; URL: http://english.aljazeera.net ]

Boko Haram Describes Assassinated Journalist as Government's Secret Agent

AFP20111105619003 Lagos Newswatch in English 31 Oct 11 - 07 Nov 11 38

[Report by Ishaya Ibrahim: "Boko Haram kills again"]

Zakariya Isa, cameraman with the Nigeria Television Authority killed in Maidugiri

Until Saturday night, 22 Oct, journalists in Maiduguri had never felt personally threatened by the activities of Jama'atu Ahlil Sunnah Lidda' awati Wal Jihad aka Boko Haram. The relationship between the two had been somewhat business-like.

The sect members largely relied on the journalists to reach the Nigerian public, a job the press had done diligently. But on that fateful day, members of the press had to reappraise their relationship with the dreaded sect after Zakariya Isa, a journalist with the Nigeria Television Authority [NTA] was killed at exactly 7:30.p.m in front of his house while returning from the mosque.

The sect members claimed that Isa was killed because he was an agent of a security agency but a Maiduguri-based journalist who wishes anonymity doubted the story. According to the journalist, Isa was not a spy for any security organization but a television cameraman with the NTA.

The source added that the slain journalist had never been an adherent of Boko Haram and could not have been in possession of any information that could have endangered the sect in anyway. To him, the sect is not being completely honest on why they killed Isa.

Another journalist, who wishes anonymity, said that perhaps the sect simply demonstrated that the threat they issued to journalists in the state last month was real. Abu Qaqa, spokesperson of the sect, had warned reporters against misrepresenting them.

Qaqa's warning was sequel to the murder of Babakura Fugu, brother in-law of Mohammed Yusuf, the Boko Haram leader and the man who was killed 48 hours after hosting Olusegun Obasanjo, former Nigerian president, in his Maiduguri, residence.

Some sections of the media had attributed the killing to the sect. But Qaqa said that they were being misquoted and warned the press that if they would not do their jobs professionally, the group would be forced to take action against them. The source believes that perhaps the killing of the NTA camera man was what the sect meant.

But barely 48 hours after the killing of the journalist, Qaqa, said that the deceased was killed because he was spying for a security agency. He said in an email statement that Isa's murder, which was the first of such attack targeting a journalist, was carried out in front of his house, shortly after leaving a mosque.

"We killed him because he was spying on us for the Nigerian security authorities. The killing was carefully planned and executed. We have ample evidence that he was giving vital information to security agencies on our mode of operation that led to the arrest of many of our members."