Dál Riata
06-30-2014, 12:16 PM
Suspected Islamist militants launch simultaneous attacks on villages close to town from which more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped in April, killing at least 30
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/nigeria/10934291/Boko-Haram-kill-Christian-worshippers-and-burn-churches-in-latest-Nigeria-attack.html
By Colin Freeman
Suspected Boko Haram militants have mounted two deadly attacks just a few miles from the Nigerian village where they abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in April.
The gunmen burst into four churches in the village of Kwada, spraying gunfire at Sunday worshippers and then setting the churches alight.
Witnesses said that they had recovered at least 30 bodies, with the corpses of others who had tried to flee being discovered in the nearby bushes.
“They killed dozens of people and burned houses after attacking worshippers,” said Mallam Yahi, a member of a local self-protection force, who fled to the nearby town of Chibok, six miles away, from where the schoolgirls were abducted.
The latest attacks will raise concerns that the Nigerian army has failed to make good on pledges to improve security in the area, where the militants have long had the upper hand.
Some of the church buildings destroyed included the Protestant Church of Christ in Nigeria, the Pentecostal Deeper Life Bible Church and Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa, which is Hausa for Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, Yahi said. The last was started by American missionaries from Illinois in the 1920s.
Mr Yahi said the attackers went on to neighboring Kautikari, where they gunned down villagers and burned down homes. The death toll was there was not yet known.
Boko Haram extremists are demanding the release of detained fighters in return for the kidnapped girls.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/nigeria/10934291/Boko-Haram-kill-Christian-worshippers-and-burn-churches-in-latest-Nigeria-attack.html
By Colin Freeman
Suspected Boko Haram militants have mounted two deadly attacks just a few miles from the Nigerian village where they abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in April.
The gunmen burst into four churches in the village of Kwada, spraying gunfire at Sunday worshippers and then setting the churches alight.
Witnesses said that they had recovered at least 30 bodies, with the corpses of others who had tried to flee being discovered in the nearby bushes.
“They killed dozens of people and burned houses after attacking worshippers,” said Mallam Yahi, a member of a local self-protection force, who fled to the nearby town of Chibok, six miles away, from where the schoolgirls were abducted.
The latest attacks will raise concerns that the Nigerian army has failed to make good on pledges to improve security in the area, where the militants have long had the upper hand.
Some of the church buildings destroyed included the Protestant Church of Christ in Nigeria, the Pentecostal Deeper Life Bible Church and Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa, which is Hausa for Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, Yahi said. The last was started by American missionaries from Illinois in the 1920s.
Mr Yahi said the attackers went on to neighboring Kautikari, where they gunned down villagers and burned down homes. The death toll was there was not yet known.
Boko Haram extremists are demanding the release of detained fighters in return for the kidnapped girls.