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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Nigeria's Islamists Claim Suicide Bombing |
| 2011-06-18 |
| [An Nahar] A radical Islamist sect has grabbed credit for Nigeria's first suicide kaboom, saying the attack that killed two at Abuja's police headquarters targeted the country's police chief. "We are responsible for the kaboom on the police headquarters in Abuja which was to prove a point to all those who doubt our capability," the group known as Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie... said after the attack late Thursday. The powerful kaboom destroyed the car park inside the police headquarters compound, killing a police officer and the bomber, wounding several others and destroying dozens of cars, according to police. Local media said the corpse count could be higher. Security experts said it was the first suicide kaboom in Nigeria, a country of 150 million people facing a growing threat from Islamic bully boys. Boko Haram said it regretted missing its target, "inspector-general of police, Hafiz Ringim." In the statement signed by front man Abu Zaid, the group said the police chief had recently been making "unguarded utterances to the effect that he will crush us in a matter of days." Witnesses said the motorcade of a police brass hat had driven into the headquarters just minutes before the attack. Police said the bomber drove into the car park and set off the bomb when he was about to undergo a routine search. Local media say the bomber was trailing the police chief as he drove into the compound. Shortly after the attack police blamed Islamists who a day earlier had threatened to step up a campaign of violence that has already seen scores of deadly attacks. Boko Haram, sometimes called the Nigerian Taliban, had warned Wednesday of "fiercer" attacks saying it was angered by a police declaration that its days were "numbered." The sect, believed to be based in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, this week admitted links with a foreign Islamist group connected to al-Qaeda, saying some of its members had just returned from training in Somalia. Security experts earlier speculated that it had established ties with Islamists in north Africa. "We will continue to launch similar attacks on the police headquarters. We will not relent," said the group which has warned it will wage a "jihad" or holy war. The kaboom, the latest in a series of blasts in recent months, adds to the levels of insecurity in Nigeria just weeks after President Goodwill Jonathan's election late April for his first full term. Several people were maimed in the kaboom, according to a Red Thingy official Umar Abdul Mairiga, who said volunteers had picked up pieces of human remains, but were unable to tell the numbers killed. Boko Haram, whose name means Western education is sin, launched an uprising in 2009 which was put down by a brutal military assault that left hundreds dead. It has pushed for the creation of an Islamic state and been blamed for shootings of police and community leaders, kabooms and raids on churches, cop shoppes and a prison. Boko Haram grabbed credit for a spate of bombings near Abuja and in the north after Jonathan's inauguration about two weeks ago that killed 18 people. But until now there had been no suicide kabooms in Nigeria. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Only one exclamation point, Sir Obvious? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2011-06-18 22:09 |
| #1 Religion of peace and tolerance strikes again! |
| Posted by: Paul D 2011-06-18 03:05 |