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

AFP20090727614002 Abuja Hot FM in English 26 Jul 09

A curfew lasting from 9 PM to 6 AM has been imposed on Bauchi Town following violent clashes between the members of the Boko Haram Fundamentalist Islamic Group and the police which have left at least 100 people dead.

The clashes occurred after dozens of men armed with guns and explosives attacked a police station.

They were repelled and security forces responded by attacking a settlement on the edge of the city, reports said.

Authorities said the militants belonged to Boko Haram, a group that wants Shari 'ah law imposed across Nigeria.

Islamic law has been in effect in the state of Bauchi since 2001.

Briefing newsmen at his residence, Bauchi State governor, Alhaji Isah Yuguda, the success of the killer group called for celebration.

Yuguda called on his colleagues from other states to be aware of this deadly group and pleaded with law abiding citizens to go about their normal business.

The Boko Haram Religious Group is a fundamentalist Islamic sect based in Maiduguri, Borno State with the agenda of eradicating western education and value through jihad.

Their presence in Bauchi was noticed when they attack a police station at Dutsen Datch and all their leaders were killed.

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

Nigeria: Clash Between Police, Islamist Group Claims 42 Lives in Bauchi State

AFP20090727583010 Isheri Nigerian Compass Online in English 2300 GMT 26 Jul 09

[Report by Theophilus Remi: "Scores Killed in Police, Fundamentalists' ClashGovt Declares 9pm - 6am CurfewOnovo Ordered To Restore Law and Order"]

Scores of people were killed yesterday in Bauchi in a gun duel between security forces and a radical Islamist group, Boko Haram. The clash, which... dislodged many from their homes, came less than six months after a sectarian battle between Muslims and Christians claimed at least four lives.

Dozens of people, who attacked the Dutsen Tanshi Police Station in Bauchi, the state capital, were repelled and many seized by the anti-riot policemen deployed to keep the peace.

Many resident-settlers have fled to army barracks for fear that the crisis might again turn sectarian.

Bauchi police spokesman, Mohammed Barau, said the militants belonged to Boko Haram, a group seeking the imposition of sharia law across the country.

Islamic law has been in operation in the state since 2001.

A nurse in a government hospital, Awwal Isa, alleged that as many as 42 people were killed in yesterday's clash.

One of the dead was a soldier, according to the nurse. Scores of people were also reported to have been injured.

The police spokesman said the situation had been brought under control and that members of the gang were being detained.

One gang member, who gave his name as Abdullah, said yesterday's attack on the police barracks was a reprisal.

He said the group had retaliated because authorities had been arresting its leaders.

The man was also quoted as saying that the group wanted to "clean the (Nigerian) system which is polluted by Western education and uphold sharia all over the country."

Investigation by the Nigerian Compass revealed that the notorious fundamentalists had in the past created panic in the state.

They had questioned the rationale behind the introduction of compulsory education in the state, saying the people should be given freedom to choose and practice their religion the way they dim fit.

For months, the Malam Isa Yuguda-led administration had been preventing them from demonstrating publicly to avoid a total breakdown of law and order.

Reports said that the fundamentalists had in their hundreds trooped to the police station in the early hours of yesterday, chasing away the few officers on duty.

They destroyed everything in sight, except the armoury, which was secured when they struck.

The fleeing policemen had made a distress call to the command headquarters from where a reinforcement was dispatched to dislodge the rampaging fundamentalists.

Infuriated by the rioters' action, the combined military and police patrol teams went round the villages within the Bauchi neighbourhood to rout the fundamentalist's from their camps.

The police spokesman, who confirmed the arrests of more than 100 of them, also informed that the Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Yakubu Lame, has ordered the acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ogbonnaya Onovo, to ensure peace and security of lives and properties of innocent citizens across the country.

According to him, the minister stressed the Federal Government's commitment to freedom of religion and that it would not allow the fundamentalists to cause a breach of the law in any part of the country.

Many people condemned the act in strong term, saying it is wrong for any one to attack the police whose duty is to protect lives and properties.

The Director of Press Affairs to the Governor, Mohammed Maigari Khanna, and other top government functionaries were seen at the Police Command Headquarters, yesterday.

Meanwhile, the state government has imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on the state.

It will run from 9pm to 6am during which security agents are to maintain law and order.

[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]

Xinhua: Clashes Between Police, Muslims Armed Youth Escalate in Two Nigerian States

CPP20090727968188 Beijing Xinhua in English 1339 GMT 27 Jul 09

[Xinhua: "Clashes Between Police, Muslims Armed Youth Escalate in Two Nigerian States"]

[Computer selected and disseminated without OSC editorial intervention]

LAGOS, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The face off between men of the Nigerian police force and some Islamic fundamentalists, popularly called "Boko Haram" in northeast Nigeria's Bauchi State has spread to two neighboring states with an unspecified number of persons killed.

According to local media reports, the armed youths in their hundreds set a police station ablaze in Potiskum, Yobe state, early Monday.

Also in neighboring Borno state, another armed group attacked a police station in the state's capital Maiduguri.

No security officials were available for comment and it was not clear if there were any casualties as at the time of filling this reports.

Earlier, Emmanuel Ojukwu, Police spokesman told Xinhua in a telephone interview in Abuja that normalcy is back in riot hit northeast Nigeria's Bauchi State as everything is back to order and situation has been put under control.

The riot was trigged by some Islamic fundamentalists, popularly called 'Boko Haram' which was said to have been campaigning against anything Western.

It was learnt that members of the sect had been planning a demonstration in Bauchi for a long time but were not given the chance because of the fear by government that their doctrine, if allowed to be preached publicly, would cause religious crisis, considering the fact that the teachings were completely contrary to those of other Islamic sects regarding peaceful coexistence.

About 200 people have been killed and many others seriously injured in the early hours of Sunday, following a renewed religious crisis in northern Nigeria's Bauchi State. Nigeria is a secular country with the population evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.

The northern region with 19 out of the country' s 36 states is predominantly Muslim, while Christians dominate the south.

[Description of Source: Beijing Xinhua in English -- China's official news service for English-language audiences (New China News Agency)]

Nigeria: Bauchi Governor Urges All States To Fight Militants

AFP20090727648002 Abuja AIT Television in English 2300 GMT 26 Jul 09

[For a copy of the video, contact GSG_GVP_VideoOps@rccb.osis.gov or the OSC Customer Center at (800) 205-8615. Selected video also available at OpenSource.gov.]

About 39 members of an Islamist sect called Boko Haram have been killed in Bauchi, northeast Nigeria. This followed a raid Sunday [ 26 July] of a team of army and police personnel on the operations and training camps of the sect located in strategic places within the state capital. AIT's Teve Tiav has the details. However, the visual you are about to see may be disturbing.

[Begin recording] [Tiav] A briefing by police authorities about the raid had been postponed by 24 hours. But a police report spotted by AIT says that only 39 members of the extremist Islamist sect known as Boko Haram were killed. Sixteen sustained injuries, and 176 were arrested in the raid by security operatives. Those scores of dead bodies were ferried to the state police headquarters from the scenes of the raid before they were taken to the hospital mortuary. AIT confirmed that the raid followed an attack by members of the sect on the Dutse township divisional police headquarters in Bauchi in the early hours of Sunday. An eyewitness, Bala Saleh, narrates what happened when AIT visited the affected police station.

[Saleh] At 0530 in the morning, when I finished my subh prayer, so when I come to open my door, I hear some gunshots. When I come back from [words indistinct] I saw one of the policemen here, here, using his gun, shooting, how do they call it. Taliban or Boko Haram were moving there around the police station. They want to burn the police station. Taliban has a gun [words indistinct], bomb, guns, arrows, and everything. Come to the police station. The police say that they should move back; they should move back. They wouldn't move. They were coming, and then using Allahu Akbar [God is Great], Allahu Akbar here, So from that time, there has been shooting, shooting, shooting here.

[Tiav] The operating base and training camps of the Islamic sect raided by a team of police and army personnel allocated by the Bauchi airport, Gudun, and on Yelwa hills surrounding Bauchi metropolis. Several items were recovered, including vehicles, foodstuff, sewing machines, guns, explosives, and ammunitions. Meanwhile, the Bauchi State governor, Isa Yaguda, has confirmed the development, describing the sect as a militant group which is also operating in other states of the federation. He has called on other governors to be on the alert.

[Yaguda] The incident of today is something that is something that is more like a nation case, a national issue. It is not a domestic issue, the issue of militancy. We have been faced with problems of militancy all over the country. And I think that that in Bauchi has its own unique features. And you can see today it was an all-out war. And today, the entire town is in celebration. So, we have to offer thanks to Almighty God. Because they were prepared to attack and eliminate everybody. So, they are not only in Bauchi, they are everywhere in Nigeria. I think we should brace up. All the governors should brace up to clean their states.

[Tiav] The sect is an Islamist group which claims to be opposed to Western education, and is recruiting men, women, and children amongst Muslims to fight its cause, which includes attack on government establishments, especially the police and other security agencies. The group is said to have had plans to eliminate prominent Islamic scholars and imams in Bauchi State. To remain on top of the security situation a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m curfew has been imposed on Bauchi metropolis and its environs. Teve Tiav, AIT [end recording]

Click here to view video.

[Description of Source: Abuja AIT Television in English -- privately owned television]

Nigeria: About 65 Killed as Police Battle Islamists

AFP20090727642001 Paris AFP (World Service) in English 1523 GMT 27 Jul 09

BAUCHI, Nigeria, July 27, 2009 (AFP) - Nigeria's security forces on Monday fought gun battles with radical Islamists who went on a rampage torching churches, police posts and government buildings in four northern states.

Police put the number of dead from the weekend religious clashes at 65 in two states of Bauchi and Yobe, as of early Monday morning.

In Borno state, heavily armed Islamist rebels torched a police headquarters, a church and a customs office in the border town of Gamboru-Ngala overnight before moving to the state capital Maiduguri where battles ran into the afternoon.

A Nigerian Islamist sect styled on Afghanistan's Taliban burnt down a central prison in Maiduguri, two police stations, several churches, a government primary school and offices of a state unemployment bureau.

"The situation has degenerated into big battles between the Taliban ... and the soldiers and police. Since morning, you can hear nothing but gunfire all over the city," resident Sanisu Ahamad told AFP by telephone as sound of gunfire could be heard in the background.

"Many government buildings have been burnt including the central prison and several churches. Streets are deserted. People are in their homes," he said.

Several telecommunications masts have been burnt cutting off many parts of the city.

Maiduguri is the Nigerian Taliban birthplace and stronghold and some neighbourhoods there are seen as Taliban enclaves.

Muhammad Auwal Mujahid told AFP by phone: "Its quite scary, all you hear is frightening sounds from guns."

In Wudil town situated on the outskirts of Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, the militants attacked a police station but were repelled in clashes that left three rebels dead, Kano police spokesman Baba Mohammed told AFP.

In Yobe, the militants doused a police station with petrol and set it alight.

"The police station is still burning with billows of dark smoke... coming from the inferno," said resident Ibrahim Bashir.

Nigeria's police chief Inspector-General Ogbonna Onovo earlier told reporters that weekend attacks claimed the lives of 60 militants and five police.

He said the death toll related to clashes in the neighbouring states of Bauchi and Yobe, adding that new fighting was raging in nearby Borno state.

"They (militants) are out there in Maiduguri (Borno) now, battling with the police," Nigeria's police chief told a news conference in the capital Abuja.

Police gave no details of casualties in the attack, but Shafiu Mohammed, a resident said the armed men burned a customs officer to death and slit the throat of an engineer working at the customs complex.

They also set ablaze a police station, a customs post and a church in the border twon.

The fighting broke out Sunday in Bauchi state when police hit back at militants after they attacked a police station at dawn. An AFP reporter said calm had returned to Bauchi by Monday, where a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on Sunday.

The Nigerian Taliban emerged in 2004 in Maiduguri, Borno, before it set up a base -- dubbed Afghanistan -- in Kanamma village in Yobe, on the border with Niger, from where it attacked police outposts and killed police officers.

Membership of the group, which locals call "boko haram" (Hausa for Western education is a sin) is mainly drawn from university dropouts.

The north of Nigeria is majority Muslim, although large Christian minorities have settled in the main towns, raising tensions between the two groups.

Since 1999 and the return of a civilian regime to Nigeria's central government, 12 northern states have introduced Islamic Sharia law.

More than 700 people died last November in Jos, capital of Plateau state, when a political feud over a local election degenerated into bloody confrontation between Muslims and Christians.

Sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians in Bauchi state killed 14 people in February.

One of the Nigerian Taliban leaders, Aminu Tashe n-Ilimi, told AFP in a 2005 interview that the group intended to lead an armed insurrection and rid society of "immorality" and "infidelity."

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

Nigeria: Islamic Sect's Clash With Security in Bauchi Leaves Scores Dead

AFP20090727606004 Lagos Ray Power 2 Radio in English 0900 GMT 27 Jul 09

Islamic fundamentalists’ clashed with security operatives in Bauchi State yesterday left about 150 members of the group who also belong to the Taliban dead. Several others were severely injured. The Islamic fundamentalists, known as Boko Haram, first struck the Federal Low-cost Housing Estate in Bauchi and killed military personnel in an exchange of gun fire. The sect, which opposes anything Western, went wild because the state government prevents its members from having their way. Boko Haram detests Western education and some of the members have withdrawn from the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi. The teachings of the sect are said to be completely contrary to those of other Islamic sects on peaceful coexistence. Hundreds of members of the sect trooped to the Dutsen Tanshi police station on 26 July and chased away officers. They vandalized the station but could not break into the armory. The members had been planning a demonstration in Bauchi for a long time but were not granted a permit because of fears that their doctrine, if preached publicly, will cause a religious crisis.

A distress call to command headquarters brought a reinforcement to confront the attackers, some of whom were felled by police bullets and others injured. Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Barau, explained that more policemen were deployed to ensure the security of lives and property.

[Begin Barau recording] Our men succeeded in repelling the dawn attack by the Taliban. They wanted to steal weapons from the police station. The situation is now under control. More members of the organization are being arrested. [end recording]

He assured that measures are now in place to prevent the spread of the riot. A team of soldiers and policemen has gone round villages to fish out the fundamentalists who escaped from their base in Bauchi. Several have been arrested, but some are believed to be hiding in the surrounding hills. Weapons recovered from them include an AK47 rifle, assorted ammunition, military uniforms, explosives, sewing machines, power generator, motorcycles, foodstuffs, and roofing sheets.

Police Affairs Minister, Ibrahim Lame, said in as much as the government is committed to the freedom of religion, it will not condone fundamentalism that breaks down law and order.

A locally made bomb yesterday exploded in the home of a hard line Islamist in Maiduguri, killing one, and leaving others in a state of coma. The explosion in Maiduguri happened five hours after the Borno State police command paraded members of a notorious Islamic sect caught with locally made bombs and other explosives. The State Commander of Operation Flush II, a joint security task force set up by the state government, Colonel Ben Ahanotu, described security in Maiduguri as tense. He said for bombs to explode right in the bedroom of a sect member showed that other sect members possess such lethal weapons all over the city. A page of a book with sketches of how to make bomb and explosives was recovered from the debris in the room, which suggested the bomb might have blown off at the time of coupling.

The sect members had named rival Islamic scholars who oppose their doctrine as targets, and promised to blow off their mosques and other worshiping places. Governor Ali Modu Sheriff described the incident as unfortunate and condemnable and pledged that the government is on top of the situation, and will continue to protect the lives and properties of all residents.

[Description of Source: Lagos Ray Power 2 Radio in English -- privately owned independent radio station]

Nigeria: Bauchi Islamic Crisis Spills Over to Borno, Yobe

AFP20090727606006 Abuja Punch in English 27 Jul 09 p 1

Muslim fanatics early this morning attacked police stations in Borno and Yobe states, killing at least one fireman. This came a day after more than 50 people died in clashes in Bauchi State. The fireman was killed after dozens of militants demanding the adoption of Islamic shari’a law set a police station ablaze in Potiskum, Yobe State. Four police officers were also injured, sources said. In neighboring Borno State, youths believed to be members of the small Islamic group, Boko Haram, attacked a police station in the state‘s capital Maiduguri. It was not clear if there were any casualties. The violence is not connected to unrest in the oil-producing Niger Delta. Boko Haram, a local group that wants shari’a to be imposed throughout Nigeria, began its string of attacks in Bauchi State early on 26 July in retaliation for the arrest of its leaders.

More than 50 people were killed in those clashes, prompting the Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda, to impose a night time curfew on the capital city. Police arrested more than 100 members after the attack on a Bauchi police station. "Bauchi has been quiet overnight but the militants have struck in Yobe and neighboring states," a police officer, Garba Abubakar said. Bauchi, Yobe, and Borno states are among the 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states that started a stricter enforcement of shari’a in 2000, a decision that has alienated sizeable Christian minorities and sparked bouts of sectarian violence that killed thousands. Clashes in Bauchi in February killed at least 11 people and wounded dozens.

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

Nigeria: Bauchi Sectarian Clash Claims 157 Lives, Spreads to Neighboring States

AFP20090728568001 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 28 Jul 09

[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".