/ 6 November 2011

Nigeria Eid bomb attacks set US on edge

Nigeria Eid Bomb Attacks Set Us On Edge

A radical Muslim sect responsible for attacks that left more than 100 people dead in north-east Nigeria this week could bomb three luxury hotels frequented by foreigners in the oil-rich nation’s capital, the US embassy warned on Sunday.

The unusually specific warning from US diplomats identified possible targets of the sect known locally as Boko Haram as the Hilton, Nicon Luxury and Sheraton hotels. Those hotels draw diplomats, politicians and Nigeria’s business elite daily in the country’s central capital of Abuja.

The embassy said the attack might come as Nigeria celebrates the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha and that its diplomats and staff had been instructed to avoid those hotels.

Deb MacLean, an embassy spokesperson, declined to offer further details about the threat or the source of the information on Sunday.

The warning came as a Nigerian Red Cross official said on Sunday that more than 100 died in a series of attacks in north-east Nigeria launched by the radical Muslim sect, as sect gunmen shot and killed another police officer.

Ibrahim Bulama said he expected the number of dead to rise as local clinics and hospitals tabulate the casualty figures from the attacks on Friday in Damaturu, the capital of rural Yobe state.

While the hard-hit city remained calm and its Muslim inhabitants celebrated a religious holiday Sunday, army and police units manned roadblocks leading into the town and streets remained largely quiet, Bulama said.

‘Criminal and unjustifiable’
Meanwhile, the sect known locally as Boko Haram killed a police inspector on Sunday in the city of Maiduguri, the sect’s spiritual home about 130km east of Damaturu. Sect gunmen stopped the officer’s car at gunpoint as he neared a mosque to pray with his family, local police commissioner Simeon Midenda said.

Gunmen ordered the family away, then shot the inspector to death, Midenda said. The sect members later allowed his family to drive the car away, he said.

The killing prompted a frank acknowledgment from the police commander, whose men remain under siege from constant assassinations by the radical sect.

“Our men who live in the midst of the Boko Haram are not safe,” Midenda said.

Statements issued late on Saturday show the United Nation Security Council called the attacks on Friday in the cities of Damaturu and Maiduguri “criminal and unjustifiable” and asked members to help Nigerian authorities bring those responsible to justice.

A statement on behalf of UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon called for “an end to all violence in the area”, while offering sympathy for the victims.

Sacrilege
Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday appealed for an end to all violence, saying it only increases problems, sowing hatred and division even among the faithful. He told tourists in St Peter’s Square that he is following with apprehension the news from Nigeria.

Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attacks on Friday, which included suicide bombings and shootings.

Boko Haram wants to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, an oil-rich nation of more than 160-million which has a predominantly Christian south and a Muslim north. Its name means “Western education is sacrilege” in the local Hausa language, but instead of schooling, it rejects Western ideals like Nigeria’s US-styled democracy that followers believe have destroyed the country with corrupt politicians.

Boko Haram’s attacks occurred ahead of Sunday’s celebration, or the feast of sacrifice, when Muslims around the world slaughter sheep and cattle in remembrance of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son. Police elsewhere in the country had warned of violence ahead of the celebration in Nigeria.

An Associated Press count shows the group has killed at least 361 people this year alone. — Sapa-AP