Gunmen killed 23 people in Borno and Kano states in attacks that appeared to target gamblers and people selling ‘forbidden’ meat that Islamist militants disapprove of, officials and locals said on Tuesday. In a ruthless attack late on Monday, gunmen
opened fire at a market in the town of Damboa,
targeting local hunters who sell bush meat from
animals such as monkeys and pigs, which strict
Muslims are forbidden to eat, a local official said. “Gunmen suspected to be members of BH (Islamist
sect Boko Haram) came to the town market and
shot dead 13 local hunters on the spot while five
others died from their injuries at the hospital,”
Alhaji Abba Ahmed said. “They came to the
market in a Volkswagen Golf car, carried out the operation and left.” In a separate attack in Kano on Tuesday,
suspected Boko Haram members, riding on
motorcycles, shot dead five people playing an
outdoor board game, witnesses and a hospital
source, who received the bodies, said. Two others were wounded. Damboa is in the remote northeast, the sect’s
heartland near the borders with Niger, Cameroon
and Chad. Meanwhile, President-General, Nigerian Supreme
Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Saad Abubakar,
on Tuesday condemned the attack on the Emir of
Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero. The condemnation by Abubakar, who is also the
Sultan of Sokoto, was contained in a statement by
Ustaz Amin Igwegbe, Director of Administraion,
NSCIA, in Abuja. The statement quoted Abubakar as describing the
attack as senseless and irresponsible. He described the attack as “incomprehensible,
irresponsible and a senseless gun attack on one
of the most revered traditional rulers in the
country.” It appealed to security agencies at all levels to
intensify investigations into that act of terrorism
and extremism with a view to bringing the
culprits to book. Also, the President of the Christian Association of
Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, on Tuesday
expressed sadness over the recent gun attack on
Bayero, praying that God would perfect his
healing process. Oritsejafor in a statement by his Personal
Assistant, Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Kenny
Ashaka, said, “The attack is disturbing and totally
condemnable.” The cleric said, “Although, Nigerians are yet to
know those behind the barbaric act, I want to,
again, appeal to northern political, religious and
traditional leaders to say and do more in order to,
practically, engage those responsible for the
‘madness’ going on in northern Nigeria and find ways to help end this nightmare.” In the same vein, Osun State Governor Rauf
Aregbesola has advocated a conscious youth
employment policy between the Federal
Government and the 36 states of the federation to
solve “assassination attacks” in the country. Aregbesola in a statement on Tuesday described
the attack on the Kano monarch as
“unconscionable and sacrilegious”.
Follow these topics: Entertainment
Source:
http://nigerianpersonality.com/2013/01/gunmen-kill-23-in-borno-kano-attacks/