Boko Haram, the Nigerian terrorist group with ties to al Qaeda groups in Africa, went on yet another rampage in northern Nigeria today. The Islamist terror group attacked a co-ed college in the town of Buni Yadi in Yobe state with the intent of killing as many students as possible. Several witnesses told The Daily Mail that Boko Haram fighters trapped students in buildings, which were set ablaze, and then brutally killed those who attempted to escape:
Garba, who teaches at a secondary school attached to the college, said the attackers first set ablaze the college administrative block, then moved to the hostels, where they locked students in and started firebombing the buildings.
At one hostel, he said: ‘Students were trying to climb out of the windows and they were slaughtered like sheep by the terrorists who slit their throats. Others who ran were gunned down.’
He said students who could not escape were burned alive
The attackers also reportedly hurled explosives into student residential buildings, sprayed gunfire into rooms and hacked a number students to death.
At least 43 people are thought to have been killed during the attack, but that number is expected to rise.
Today’s attack is the latest in a series against civilians and the military by the terror group. Just one week ago, Boko Haram attacked the town of Bama near the border with Cameroon, and killed at least 98 people. On Feb. 15, Boko Haram killed 106 people when it raided the nearby town of Izghe. Two days prior, Boko Haram forces killed nine Nigerian soldiers in an ambush in the village; the terror group returned on Feb. 23 and razed what remained of the village. And on Feb 12, a large Boko Haram force attacked the town of Konduga and killed 39 civilians.
As Boko Haram has stepped up its deadly insurgency, President Goodluck Jonathan urged the terror group to lay down its weapons and conduct peace talks.
“I wish to use this platform to renew my previous call to members of the sect to lay down their arms and engage government in a constructive manner in order to address their grievances, if truly they have any reason to do what they are doing,” Jonathan said yesterday, according to Vanguard.
According to The Daily Mail, Jonathan described recent Boko Haram attacks as “‘quite worrisome'” but said “he was sure ‘we will get over it.'”
Meanwhile Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau vowed to continue attacks and even expand them into the Niger Delta region in southern Nigeria. He also threatened to kill anyone he deems to be an “infidel.”
“The reason why I will kill you is you are infidels. You follow democracy. Whoever follows democracy is an infidel,” he said on Feb. 19.
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2 Comments
The state has failed the citizens of Nigeria. It can not/does not protect them. This is an abomination! The citizens must be armed! They have a God-given right to life! If the state does not allow them to be armed, it is complicit in their murders! Unfortunately, these poor people have two enemies. Arming the citizens would stop this slaughter quicker than anything. While these people die horrible deaths, goodluck sits in a palace behind armed guards. This is the hypocrisy of the state that, hopefully, God won’t long tolerate.
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/news/in-the-news/pham-on-boko-haram-attack
The above link to a report by the prestigious Atlantic Council unequivocally validates the Long War Journal’s exemplary real-time reporting on Boko Haram for at least the last 18 months.