Al-Qaeda affiliate assassinates Christian church leader in Nigeria

by: jim kouri | published: 05 19, 2013

Members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Boko Haram allegedly assassinated a Christian leader on Tuesday in Nigeria's northeast Borno State, according to an Israeli police intelligence analyst who monitors African Islamist groups.

According to a spokesman from the National President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev Ayo Oritsajafor, Rev Faye Pama Musa was shot dead at about 7:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday at his residence in Maiduguri by Boko Haram jihadists.

"The Borno CAN secretary has been killed. We've got the report and the national president received it with heavy heart. It is very sad," the spokesperson added in a statement.

The Israeli police source said that there were reports that the deceased Christian pastor had "attempted to run away but his assailants caught him and they "shot him at close range."

The killing of the popular Christian pastor occurred shortly after Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the most troubled states in the northeast part of the country where Boko Haram is believed strongest.

The states most at risk for Boko Haram attacks are Yobe, Adamawa, and Borno, the source noted.

Also on Monday, the Boko Haram sect claimed responsibility for the recent major assault on Baga and Bama, in Borno state, in which up to 200 people, including soldiers, policemen, prison warders and civilians, were massacred.

Meanwhile, last week Nigerian police and security forces reported that upwards of 60 people were fatally wounded when suspected al-Qaeda affiliate Boko Haram Islamists attacked security formations in Nigeria's terrorist-infested Borno region, according to Jorge Vega, an international counterterrorism and security expert.

A Nigerian spokesman for the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno, Col. Sagir Musa, reported that the gunmen attacked Bama, a commercial town about 200 miles away from Maiduguri, which is the Boko Haram-controlled region.

"Suspected Boko Haram terrorists in 18-seater buses and vehicles mounted with anti aircraft machine guns, attempted an attack on 202 Battalion Barracks in Bama, about 10 insurgents were killed during exchange of fire. We lost 2 soldiers during the attack," Col. Musa said in a statement. "They came in army uniforms pretending to be soldiers but were able to detect them," he added.

According to Jorge Vega, the Boko Haram terrorists also executed 14 Nigerian prison officials in cold-blood and they freed more than 100 Islamist prisoners, who will probably return to the battlefield.

The suspected terrorists also torched a police station and its adjoining police barracks, as well as a local courthouse and Bama's government complex where some of the buildings were totally destroyed.

During the attack, the terrorists perpetrated extensive arson on the divisional police station and police barracks. More than 20 police officers lost their lives, while three Children and a woman were burned to death.

In April, a fierce battle in Baga, Nigeria between security forces and Islamic terrorists left at least 200 Nigerians dead in that nation's northeast coastal region, an Israeli terrorism analyst who monitors jihad in Africa said.

The source said that the terrorists initiated the attack with rocket-propelled grenades and soldiers retaliated with intense machine-gun fire in Nigerian neighborhoods and many of the casualties were civilians.

The fighting in Baga forced civilians to flee into the surrounding community adjacent to Lake Chad.

After the violence subsided, government officials were able to view the destruction firsthand, and their inspection revealed homes, small business establishments, and automobiles and trucks were torched as a result of the intense battle, according to local media.

The terrorists living in the northeast part of Nigeria, including Baga, are said to be armed with military-grade weapons, according to the Africa Daily.

The Islamic jihad in Nigeria started as a riot in 2009 by members of an Islamist group known as Boko Haram. That first encounter turned into a full-blown gun-fight between Boko Haram and its supporters and the police and the military.

Since 2010, Islamists have perpetrated drive-by shootings and suicide bombings that have killed 1,548 people. Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sacrilege," has said it wants its imprisoned Islamists released and for the current Nigerian government to institute Sharia law throughout the nation.

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