Nigeria: 150 dead in religious clashes

  1. Posted on Monday 27 July 2009 - 16:14
    Murtala
    Image of Murtala
    Murtala Mohammed Kamara, AfricaNews reporter in Freetown, Sierra Leone
    At least 150 people have been reported killed in Northern Nigeria following clashes between the Nigerian Police Force and members of a militant group called 'Bokom Haram' which opposes western education while trying to set free their leader. It is the number of people dead in two days of violence.
    nigeria map
    Last weekend clashes was ignited after some members of Bokum Haram armed with guns and grenades shouting “God Is Great” attacked the Dutsen Tanshi Police Station the same time a raid was launched in Maiduguri. Eyewitnesses told the BBC that a gun battle which lasted for hours left a Police station raised down and its immediate environs.

    The NPF also reacted in raiding the group’s neighborhoods and hideouts around the Bauchi airstrip, arresting hundreds including items such as uniforms, boots, explosives and live ammunitions.

    The death toll is still not clear but the BBC reporter in the West Africa country said she counted over 100 bodies ‘mostly militants’ near the Police headquarters in Maiduguri state were hundreds are fleeing.

    A member of Bokom Haram who gave his name as Abdul with sustained wounds during the initial attack on the police station told Reuters that the group wanted to "clean the (Nigerian) system which is polluted by western education and uphold Sharia all over the country." He said further "The police have been arresting our leaders, that is why we decided to retaliate.’’

    The police has announced on Sunday that normalcy has returned to Buachi despite the state government pronouncement of a curfew from 9pm to 6pm.

    Nigeria’s 150 million people are mainly divided between Muslims mainly in the North and Christians in the South. Nigeria, Africa’s most populace nation has a record for religious clashes which have left hundreds dead in the past but security experts say these clashes have no link to Al-Qaeda.

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