AFRICA/NIGERIA - The testimony of a Bishop to Fides: Boko Haram attacks Maiduguri

Tuesday, 29 December 2015 terrorism   armed groups  

Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - "The terrorists of Boko Haram arrived in the afternoon of December 27 in different areas of Maiduguri, introducing themselves in some homes and killing the inhabitants, while in other areas they sent women and girls to blow themselves up among the people", says to Fides His Exc. Mgr. Oliver Dashe Doeme, Bishop of Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, in northern Nigeria. "A substantial number of people were killed, but we do not yet know the exact number".
According to agency sources, the dead in the course of several simultaneous attacks which took place in Maiduguri and the town of Madagali are at least 80.
A mosque was also attacked. "Even a member of the local Islamic community was killed in his home", said Mgr. Doeme, who emphasizes: "Boko Haram is a sect that does not make a big distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims. The majority of the population wants to live in peace. Boko Haram kills whoever does not adhere to its ideology that in particular prohibites 'Western' education. Muslims who do not support their ideology become enemies of Boko Haram".
"Boko Haram now is part of the worldwide phenomenon of international terrorism, as evidenced by the simultaneous attacks perpetrated here in Maiduguri that seem to trace some modes of terrorist attacks in Paris or elsewhere in the world" the Bishop concluded. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 29/12/2015)


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