Nigeria Attacks Kill 67; Sect Claims Responsibility
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 5, 2011, NYTimes.com
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - At least 67 people died in a wave of bombings and shootings carried out in northeast Nigeria on Friday and overnight, officials said Saturday, as frightened mourners left their homes to begin burying their dead.
A radical Islamist faction known as Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attacks, which represent the most coordinated and wide-ranging assault yet in an increasingly bloody sectarian fight with Nigeria's weak central government. The sect, which wants the strict implementation of Shariah law, said it would carry out more attacks.
On Friday, a car bomb exploded outside a three-story building used as a military office and barracks in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State, said Ibrahim Bulama, a Nigerian Red Cross official.
Gunmen then went through the town, blowing up a bank branch and attacking at least three police stations and some churches, leaving them in rubble, he said. Gunfire continued through the night and gunmen raided the village of Potiskum, witnesses said, leaving at least two people dead there.
On Saturday, people began hesitantly leaving their homes, seeing the destruction left behind, including burned military and police vehicles.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, has staged targeted assassinations and bombings around Nigeria's north
State government officials did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday morning.
In addition to the attacks around Damaturu, several bombings struck Maiduguri on Friday, about 80 miles to the east. One blast detonated about noon outside the El-Kanemi Theological College where parents had gathered. The police said others had entered the college grounds to attend Friday Prayer at a mosque on campus.
Another bombing alongside a road in Maiduguri killed four people, Police Commissioner Simeon Midenda said.
A short time later, suicide bombers in a black S.U.V. tried to enter a base for the military unit charged with protecting the city from Boko Haram fighters, said a military spokesman, Lt. Col. Hassan Ifijeh Mohammed. The S.U.V. could not enter the gate and the explosives were detonated outside of the base, Colonel Mohammed said.
On Friday, a car bomb exploded outside a three-story building used as a military office and barracks in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State, said Ibrahim Bulama, a Nigerian Red Cross official.
Gunmen then went through the town, blowing up a bank branch and attacking at least three police stations and some churches, leaving them in rubble, he said. Gunfire continued through the night and gunmen raided the village of Potiskum, witnesses said, leaving at least two people dead there.
On Saturday, people began hesitantly leaving their homes, seeing the destruction left behind, including burned military and police vehicles.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, has staged targeted assassinations and bombings around Nigeria's north
State government officials did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday morning.
In addition to the attacks around Damaturu, several bombings struck Maiduguri on Friday, about 80 miles to the east. One blast detonated about noon outside the El-Kanemi Theological College where parents had gathered. The police said others had entered the college grounds to attend Friday Prayer at a mosque on campus.
Another bombing alongside a road in Maiduguri killed four people, Police Commissioner Simeon Midenda said.
A short time later, suicide bombers in a black S.U.V. tried to enter a base for the military unit charged with protecting the city from Boko Haram fighters, said a military spokesman, Lt. Col. Hassan Ifijeh Mohammed. The S.U.V. could not enter the gate and the explosives were detonated outside of the base, Colonel Mohammed said.
He said there were blasts at three other places in Maiduguri that killed no one. However, government officials routinely play down such attacks because of political considerations.
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Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
512 475 7222 (fax)
http://www.toyinfalola.com/
www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa
http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs
http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
512 475 7222 (fax)
http://www.toyinfalola.com/
www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa
http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs
http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
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