PM News Nigeria


18 massacred inside Nigerian market  print

Published on January 22, 2013 by   ·   2 Comments

Gunmen believed to be from Islamist extremist group Boko Haram have opened fire at a market in Damboa, Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, killing 18 people, a local official said Tuesday.

“Some gunmen came into the market yesterday afternoon and opened fire on a group of hunters,” local chief Abba Ahmed told journalists of the attack in Damboa.

“Eighteen people were killed in the attack.”

There were conflicting reasons given for the attack. According to Ahmed, there were claims that the Islamists were angry over the hunters selling meat such as pork forbidden in Islam.

Other residents however spoke of hunters in the area recently banding together to form a local vigilante group in response to robberies by Boko Haram members, sparking a revenge attack from the Islamists.

Hunters typically sell their game at the market in Damboa where the attack occurred.

Violence linked to Boko Haram’s insurgency in northern and central Nigeria has left some 3,000 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces.

Damboa is located near the city of Maiduguri, the heart of the insurgency and where Boko Haram has been based.

There has been a lull in major attacks in recent weeks in Nigeria, but there were two high-profile attacks at the weekend.

On Saturday, an explosion in central Nigeria killed two soldiers who were due to be deployed to Mali. A group calling itself Ansaru, thought to be a Boko Haram splinter group, claimed responsibility.

Nigeria is set to deploy some 1200 troops to Mali to contribute to an African force aimed at helping the country battle Islamists who seized control of its north in April last year. It will command the force as well.

Also on Saturday, gunmen opened fire on the convoy of the emir of Kano, an influential Nigerian Muslim figure, killing five people. The 82-year-old emir Ado Bayero was not hurt, but two of his sons were wounded.

No one has claimed responsibility for that attack, which sparked outrage in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer, roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

Tuesday evening another attack on motor bike was recorded in Kano, with five persons at least, being killed.

Boko Haram has claimed to be fighting for the creation of an Islamic state, but its demands have repeatedly shifted and it is believed to include various factions. Criminal gangs and imitators are also suspected of carrying out violence under the guise of the group.

Its attacks have included assassinations and suicide bombings, including one at UN headquarters in the capital Abuja in August 2011 which killed at least 25 people.

While Muslims and symbols of Nigerian authority have often been its victims, it has also targeted Christians, including through the use of church bombings.

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Posted by on January 22, 2013, 8:46 pm. Filed under National, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Comments for “18 massacred inside Nigerian market”

  1. Edwin Etim

    All along,the Northern Leadership refused to close rank with the Federal
    Government and confront the terrorists in their domain.But now it seems as if
    the chickens are coming home to roost.
    It is really mind boggling that while the Boko Haram terrorists want to impose
    sharia on the nation and go about it with their campaign of suicide bombings and
    mass murder of innocent Nigerians, the Northern Leaders insist on a dialogue
    with the mass murderers.
    But our Commonwealth is a secular Republic and sharia is unconstitutional.
    It is however an open secret that the same Northern Leaders are orchestrating
    this Boko Haram mayhem of bombings and daily mass murder.Our President has
    some of them in his cabinet.His former NSA,late Gen.Andy Azazi had a water-
    tight evidence to show that Hausa/Fulani members of the President’s ruling PDP
    are the sponsors of the Boko Haram terrorists.
    It seems as if it might require an International Military Forces like curently in Mali
    in order to deal with this Hausa/Fulani menence in our nation.

  2. JI

    “While Muslims and symbols of Nigerian authority have often been its victims, it has also targeted Christians, including through the use of church bombings.”

    Muslims are not their target PM News, they simply eliminate those muslims who betray them after working with them for a while.

    This medium is trying to misinform the world. Is this Yoruba diplomacy? Do the Hausa Fulani realy feed the Yorubas or why do they continue to act in tacit support of all the nonsense?

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