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

In a telephone chat, the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mai Mamman, told Saturday Tribune that he was not aware of such message contained in the posters or aware of any statement made by the commissioner, who had just arrived the state to that effect.

Saturday Tribune, however, gathered that about two weeks ago, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, reported an interview with an unidentified person claiming to be the sect's spokesperson.

It would be recalled in that interview that the sect gave conditions, which according to an unidentified spokesman of the religious sect, must be met before members of the sect could sheath their swords.

Saturday Tribune recalled that while claiming responsibilities for the serial attacks and killings, including the recent bombing of Gamboru police station, the spokesperson said: "We deserve similar treatments accorded to the Niger-Delta militants by the late president, Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua, rather than being treated like second class citizens of Nigeria."

He added that they were responsible for all that had raised tension in the Borno and neighbouring states of Bauchi, Yobe, Kano and Jigawa.

He said the serial attacks and killings since July were, however, caused by the state government which trampled on their rights and those of citizens of this country by killing their leader, Mohammed Yusuf, in August, 2009.

He said that besides the killing of their religious leader, the state government also destroyed their places of worship.

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

Nigeria: Suspected Islamic Sect Members Attack Police Station in Yobe State

AFP20101025598008 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 2300 GMT 24 Oct 10

[Report by Njadvara Musa: "Suspected Boko Haram Members Attack Yola Police Station"]

Six armed men suspected to be Boko Haram members yesterday attacked the Gulani police station in Yobe State in the night, injuring not less than three policemen.

In the exchange of gunfire with the suspects, the police killed one of them, while the remaining five fled with their Kalashnikov rifles, which they used in attacking the police station. The police station is 154 kilometres East of Damaturu, the state capital.

Confirming the attacks and killing of one of the suspects, the police commissioner, Mamman Sule, told The Guardian: "Yes, it is true that a gang of six armed men suspected to be Boko Haram armed religious sect attacked one of our police stations in Gulani in the night." He said that police officers were able to protect the station by killing one of the suspects.

He said the motive of the suspects was to set the police station ablaze but they were unable to do so because the policemen on duty were able to save many lives and the police station.

On whether there were arrests made, he said that the perpetrators would be brought to book as soon as investigations were completed based on the information provided by the Gulani communities to the police.

Last Friday, the Bauchi ward head, Tukur Ahmadu, was gunned down by the suspected Boko Haram religious sect in his Kandahar residence at about 8.00 p.m.

[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: Recent Killings Said Lead to Fears of Boko Haram Islamist Sect's Return

AFP20101027646003 Paris AFP (World Service) in English 1004 GMT 27 Oct 10

["Killings Lead to Fears of Nigerian Islamist Sect's Return" -- AFP headline]

MAIduguri, Nigeria, Oct 26, 2010 (AFP) - A Nigerian Islamist sect routed in a brutal assault last year is feared to have reemerged with a series of attacks and shootings, leading to military patrols and grim reminders of 2009 unrest.

Police suspect the sect, known as Boko Haram, has been behind a spate of deadly shootings by gunmen on motorcycles in Nigeria's north, as well as attacks on police stations and a prison raid that freed more than 700 inmates.

Military deployments, including army checkpoints and two helicopters that hover above throughout the day, have been sent to this northeastern city in recent weeks.

Hundreds were killed after the military and police launched an assault to put down an uprising by the sect last year, leaving its headquarters and mosque in ruins.

A video has emerged purporting to show the Islamists raid the prison in the city of Bauchi in September -- an attack that also freed about 100 suspected sect members -- as well as issue new threats.

The militants in the video say they do not want to be known as Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sin" in the local Hausa language.

They say in the video, which includes a picture of Osama bin Laden, that they want to be called a phrase that translates roughly to "People Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Propagation and Jihad."

"We will avenge the killings of our brethren and the destruction of our homes," a militant whose face is masked as well as blurred says in the video in the Hausa language as he sits beside an AK-47 rifle.

"We have been permitted by Allah to fight whoever kills us and destroys our homes."

The video has apparently not been widely distributed and its authenticity could not be confirmed. Footage purportedly showing the prison raid was filmed from a distance and is unfocused, though gunfire can be heard.

Abdulkareem Mohammed, a filmmaker who has written a book on the sect and watched the footage, said he believed it to be authentic.

Kyari Mohammed, a professor who is also working on a book on Boko Haram, had not seen the video but said its existence would not surprise him. He also said one reason it may not be more widely distributed is because the group remains a local one.

However, a Washington-based organisation, the Middle East Media Research Institute, recently warned that Boko Haram may be forming links with Al-Qaeda's north Africa branch.

Such links would mark a sharp change in the group, with many observers saying it grew out of frustration with Nigeria's massive corruption, poverty and lack of opportunities for young people.

Local chiefs in the city say they have received threats from suspected sect members because they are perceived as having assisted police in identifying militants after last year's unrest.

"I live in constant fear of attack by Boko Haram members, who have called me twice informing they were going to kill me," one neighbourhood chief said.

Police officers and community leaders have been among the targets of the shootings in recent months.

Authorities refused to comment this week about the military presence and suspected return of the sect, though the army chief of staff recently visited Maiduguri and spoke of the strategy.

"The deployment of the helicopters ... was to provide surveillance and trace the hideout of members of Boko Haram and other criminals who have been terrorizing the state," said Azubuike Ihejirika.

Motorcycles are now banned at night, though shootings have still occurred here despite the restriction.

The government in Borno state, where Maiduguri is the capital, has promised a 500,000 naira (3,333 dollar) reward for information on the sect.

But suspected sect members responded with their own campaign, distributing fliers -- since torn down -- warning that anyone who provided police with information would be killed, residents said.

Abubakar Tsav, a respected former police commissioner for the economic capital Lagos, sai d authorities had embarked on the wrong strategy.

"I can't see any rationale in the use of gunships to check hit-and-run attacks by motorcycle riders in alleyways," he said, referring to the helicopters. "The best strategy in such situation is the use of undercover surveillance."

One resident said locals would never report the sect members.

"The truth is that the attackers are known among residents, but no one is willing to stick his neck out for fear of reprisals," the resident said at a shopping centre in the city.

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

Algerian journalist on 'real' identity of AQLIM leader, AQLIM future in Nigeria

EUP20101027950045 Paris AFP (Domestic Service) in French 1510 GMT 27 Oct 10

Algerian journalist on "real" identity of AQLIM leader, AQLIM future in Nigeria

Text of report by French news agency AFP

Algiers, 27 October 2010: An Algerian journalist says in a work published this week that he is able to reveal the real identity of the leader of Al-Qa'idah in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQLIM), contesting the identity attributed to him by Interpol.

Mohamed Mokeddem, editor of the Algerian Arab-language daily Ennahar, said that Abdelhamid Abou Zeid is called Mohamed Ghadir rather than Abid Hamadou as stated by experts in Sahel terrorism and Interpol on its most wanted list.

The Algerian radical leader, whom Mr Mokeddem profiles from birth to his most recent activities, is behind several foreign kidnappings in the Sahel, including that of five French nationals kidnapped in September.

In an interview with AFP, Mr Mokeddem explained the misunderstanding on the grounds that the two men "have the same story: both were originally smugglers and joined the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in their respective districts".

They have "the same profile: a brother and two cousins who are their allies and joined armed groups", said the expert on AQLIM whose book, "Al-Qaidah in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb, Smuggling for Islam" [French: "Al-Qaida au Maghreb islamique, contrebande au nom de l'islam"] was presented at the Algiers International Book Fair.

Mr Mokeddem said Mohamed Ghadir is white, born in the Debdeb region not far from the Libyan border, whereas Abid Hamadou, born in Touggourt in the Ouargla department (right in the south, 800 km from Algiers) was black. He is thought to have been killed by the army in the Sahara in the 90s but his death was not recorded, the journalist said.

It was by checking statements and photos of the two men with their respective mothers, the "penitents" (former Islamic radical fighters amnestied by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika) and one-time French hostage Pierre Camatte, who was kidnapped on 25 November 2009, that Mr Mokeddem reached this conclusion.

Mr Camatte who was released in February 2010 "confirmed Abou Zeid's real identity" from the photo presented to him, he said.

Mr Mokeddem also said that Frenchman Michel Germaneau, kidnapped on 19 April and said by AQLIM to have been executed, in fact died "of a heart attack at the beginning of July". His sources are "Algerian traders with links to Mali" where the hostage was held and "sources connected to the security situation in the Sahel region".

Abou Zeid, who appeared in 2003 as a deputy to Aberazak el Para [described by Le Monde as the Maghreb's Bin Ladin and a former Algerian special forces officer] in the kidnapping of 32 European tourists, is believed responsible for a serious of kidnappings, including that of Briton Edwin Dyer who was executed in June 2009 and more recently of five French nationals, a Malagasy and a Togolese in the north of Niger.

Mr Mokeddem said that AQLIM is sustained by the kidnapping business. "Ransoms are handed over to pay for ammunition and weapons. This market is very important in Mali and Niger" where soldiers and former Tuareg rebels had over their hardware.

Some of the funds, he said, are laundered particularly "in fast food and transport".

Mr Mokeddem, a connoisseur of jihadi networks, says AQLIM moved into Nigerian territory when Boko Haram emerged in the north and hundreds were left dead last year in clashes between the sect and the Nigerian army.

"AQLIM's future is in Nigeria not the Sahel," he says.

[Description of Source: Paris AFP (Domestic Service) in French -- domestic service of independent French press agency]

France Offers To Provide Surveillance Equipment to Nigeria To Fight Terrorism

AFP20101103565007 Abuja Daily Trust Online in English 0345 GMT 03 Nov 10

[Report by Ahmed Mohammed: "France To Assist Nigeria on Terrorism"]

The French government has offered to assist Nigeria with surveillance equipment to check terrorism in the country. The French Ambassador to Nigeria, John Michelle, made the offer when he visited Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda in Bauchi.

He also condoled with the government and people of the state over the lives lost in the recent attack by suspected members of the Boko-Haram sect.

The ambassador also disclosed that the French government has set aside $200 million to boost agriculture in Nigeria. He said the fund would be used to assist genuine farmers.

Ambassador Michelle said to reduce Nigeria's dependence on oil, the country must develop other sectors of the economy, adding that agriculture if developed could reduce unemployment in the country.

He said that his government is partnering INEC [Independent National Electoral Commission] to ensure a free and fair election in the country in 2011.

He advised aspirants to be peaceful in their campaigns, saying the French government was ready to partner the Nigerian government to boost security in the country.

Yuguda has assured that those behind the killings would be fished out and made to face the law.

Yuguda also assured investors that the atmosphere in the state is favorable for any type of investment, reiterating the determination of his administration to protect lives and property of everyone in the state.

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

Nigeria Deports 700 'Suspected' Islamic Sect Members to Niger, Cameroon, Chad

AFP20101105598002 Isheri Nigerian Compass Online in English 2300 GMT 04 Nov 10

[Unattributed report: "FG Deports 700 'Boko Haram' Members to Niger, Chad"]

Hundreds of immigrants have been deported from Northern Nigeria to neighbouring countries as part of a security crackdown on the radical Islamic sect-Boko Haram-a senior immigration official confirmed yesterday.

Suspected members of the sect have been blamed for torching police stations and carrying out fatal sniper attacks on police officers and innocent residents in some states, especially Bauchi and Borno.

According to Babayo Alkali, a top immigration official in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, no fewer than 700 migrants from Niger, Cameroon and Chad have been expelled, amid fears that the sect may be drawing members from outside Nigeria, as at the last count.

He said: "With the recent security threat in the state and approaching election, we had to embark on an exercise to clear the state of all illegal aliens.

"Some foreigners were implicated in the Boko Haram security breach so, we had to act." The immigration official said that those deported, some of whom were visiting relatives, had been found to lack the necessary documents to stay in the country.

Members of the sect have been calling for the implementation of Sharia (Islamic law) across the country.

Some states in the North have introduced the religious code over the last decade.

The sect first gained wide attention last July, when it launched an uprising in Maiduguri that led to clashes with security forces in which up to 800 people were killed.

Residents in the affected states alleged that the recent resurgence in violence was a form of revenge against the authorities, who clamped down on the sect members, whose leader died in detention.

Police officers, government officials and traditional leaders have been killed in a wave of attacks that began in August.

The forthcoming general elections scheduled to hold in March next year has heightened security concerns. The leadership of security services had said last month that they would boost the army and police presence, including using helicopter patrols, in Borno in a bid to contain the rampaging Boko Haram sect members, whose name means "Western education is sinful" in Hausa language.

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

Nigeria: Report Says Boko Haram Confirms Links With Al-Qa'ida, Threatens Attacks

AFP20101110683001 Ibadan Nigerian Tribune Online in English 23 Oct 10

[Report by James Bwala: "Boko Haram Confirms Link With Osama's al-Qaeda •Threatens Fresh Attack In North"]

The Muslim Fundamental group, Boko Haram, on Thursday evening threatened to carry out further attacks in some state in the North while also invoking the al-Qaeda's North African branch.

Al-Qaeda is the group established by Osama bin Laden which claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre in the United State.

According to an online news agency, the Boko Haram group involked the North African branch of the al-Qaeda group and pasted posters in some areas in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, declaring loyalty to the group.

Posters by the sect appeared at key intersections in the city of Maiduguri bearing the name of Imam Abubakar Shekau, the group's de facto leader.

The two top corners of the posters bore a symbol of an opened Quran, flanked on each side by Kalashnikov assault rifles and a flag in the middle -- mirroring the logo of al-Qaeda in the North Africa.

The message warned the public against assisting the police or going near soldiers guarding the town at night.

The message also acknowledged a recent reward offered for information leading to the arrest of suspected sect members.

"Any Muslim that goes against the establishment of Sharia (law) will be attacked and killed," the message read.

Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sacrilege" in Hausa language, has campaigned for the implementation of strict Shariah law.

The poster said it was from Shekau on behalf of "The Group of the People of Sunnah, Call and Jihad."

Police officers began removing the signs late Wednesday, according to the agency.

"These publications and messages on Boko Haram activities are seditious and could jeopardise our investigations into the four-month serial attacks and killings in the state," Borno State Police Commissioner, Mohammed Abubakar, was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Saturday Tribune, which was in Maiduguri, learnt that such massages, which were seen around Shehuri, Jejeri, Bullumkuttu and other areas of the state, were also shown on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

Saturday Tribune also learnt that the new Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Abubakar, had made a statement on the position of security in that regard.

In a telephone chat, the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mai Mamman, told Saturday Tribune that he was not aware of such message contained in the posters or aware of any statement made by the commissioner, who had just arrived the state to that effect.

Saturday Tribune, however, gathered that about two weeks ago, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, reported an interview with an unidentified person claiming to be the sect's spokesperson.

It would be recalled in that interview that the sect gave conditions, which according to an unidentified spokesman of the religious sect, must be met before members of the sect could sheath their swords.

Saturday Tribune recalled that while claiming responsibilities for the serial attacks and killings, including the recent bombing of Gamboru police station, the spokesperson said: "We deserve similar treatments accorded to the Niger-Delta militants by the late president, Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua, rather than being treated like second class citizens of Nigeria."

He added that they were responsible for all that had raised tension in the Borno and neighbouring states of Bauchi, Yobe, Kano and Jigawa.

He said the serial attacks and killings since July were, however, caused by the state government which trampled on their rights and those of citizens of this country by killing their leader, Mohammed Yusuf, in August, 2009.

He said that besides the killing of their religious leader, the state government also destroyed their places of worship.

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

Nigeria: Report Says Ammunition Factory Found Near Crises Ridden Central City

AFP20101118683001 Zaria Al-Mizan Online in Hausa 12 Nov 10

[Unattributed report]

The Police made big arrests in Jos recently.

The International Criminal Court has begun investigations into the nagging Jos crises.

The police have recently discovered a hideout at the Kiru local government situated at the south of the Plateau state's government house, where a large quantity of rifles and cartridges are manufactured, which people suspect are meant to be used to provoke violence in a city now well known for sectarian crises.

The Plateau state commissioner of Police, Ikechukwu Aduba, testified that his men have arrested four men that will assist the police in investigations on this arms manufacturing factory they have discovered.

In a news conference he granted to journalists, Ikechukwu Aduba revealed that they found the arms manufacturing factory during an investigation on the murder of a veterinary doctor in the same area.

He said that it was in that area that they found cartridges and rifles in a corn bin, kept for use during future crises in the city.

Security forces, have since the beginning of this year, urged everyone to surrender all arms in possession, a warning ignored by all until when the police searched and arrested various culprits in possession of arms at different times.

A report shows that Nigeria ranks the highest in the sub-region for illegal arms possession, mostly unreported or prosecuted.

In another report, security personnel on patrol in Borno state arrested a man alleged to be a member of the Boko Haram sect in possession with a large consignment of AK 47 rifles, during an unsuccessful attack his gang launched on an unsuspecting traditional ruler.

In another incident, a woman, Lucy Dangana, found to be importing arms from the neighboring Chad was found to have facilitated the illegal importation of several such consignments of arms into the country.

Borno state police commissioner, Muhammad j. Abubakar, also said that they arrested Lucy Dangana, 35, in Dabar masara town in the Kukawa Jim Kadam local government area while she was about to cross over to Chad.

While speaking to newsmen, Lucy said that the arms belonged to a male relative, and that she was only acting as his front.

[Description of Source: Zaria Al-Mizan Online in Hausa -- Website of the privately owned pro-Islamic weekly newspaper, championing Hausa and northern Nigerian interests; URL: http://www.almizan.net]

Nigeria: Army Say Troops Clash With Islamist Sect Members in Northern City

AFP20101122683006 Paris AFP (World Service) in English 1701 GMT 22 Nov 10

["Troops clash with sect members in northern Nigeria: army" -- AFP headline]

KANO, Nigeria, Nov 22, 2010 (AFP) - Suspected members of an Islamist sect ambushed a military patrol in the flashpoint northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the army said Monday.

One soldier was wounded in the shoot-out that took place Sunday night in the Jajere area of Maiduguri, where hundreds of people were killed in an uprising by the Boko Harem sect and a subsequent crackdown by security forces.