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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
NIGERIA: Six die as troops quell uprising by Muslim extremists
KANO, NIGERIA, 5 January 2004 (IRIN) - At least six people were killed when soldiers and police quelled an uprising by Muslim extremists who had attacked several police stations in Northeastern Nigeria over the past two weeks, a government spokesman said.
Ibrahim Jirgi, the spokesman for Yobe statement goverment, said on Sunday that the group of about 200 militants belonged to a Muslim sect known as Al Sunna Wal Jamma or "Followers of the Prophet."
This group has been active for the past two years in northeastern Nigeria and demands the establishment of an Islamic state in the country. It professes admiration for the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.
Jirgi said the militants first attacked police stations in the towns of Geidam and Kanamma near the northern border with Niger, where they siezed guns and ammunition. The militants subsequently occupied a primary school in Kanamma, where they raised flags with "Afghanistan" written on them.
Residents in Kanamma said the militants appeared mainly to be students from university students from Maiduguri, the capital of neighbouring Borno state.
Jirgi said a joint force of riot police and soldiers attacked the militants in Kanamma on 31 December, whereupon they divided into two columns and retreated.
One column of insurgents headed for the nearby border with Niger, while the other drove to Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, 180 km to the south. Jirgi said that after night fell, the insurgents attacked three police stations and burn down a local government building in the town.
The security forces fought a two-hour gun-battle with the militants in Damaturu before they retreated once more, heading for Maiduguri, 135 km to the east. “They killed a police inspector and abducted another police officer as they fled the town towards Maiduguri,” Jirgi said.
The militants were ambushed by the security forces on the outskirts on Maiduguri on 1 January. Jirgi said two militants were killed in that engagement and several others were arrested, while the policeman taken hostage in Damaturu was released unharmed..
The government spokesman said the security forces of Niger intercepted the second column of militants as it tried to head across the border. Three militants were killed in the clash and three others were arrested, he added.
"We are making arrangements to bring them back to Nigeria," Jirgi said.
Police spokesman Chris Olakpe said a joint force of soldiers and police sent to tackle the militants had "brought the situation under control" and was still patrolling the affected area. He gave no details of casualties.
Salisu Yelwa, a resident of Kanamma who fled to Damaturu because of the unrest, said scores of people, mainly farmers and traders, had fled the area since the unrest set in, disrupting economic activities. He said many residents were still afraid to return, despite the intervention of the security forces, because the militants changed locations frequently and turned up when least expected.
The Al Sunna Wal Jamma group has been active in Borno and Yobe states over the past two years, preaching strict adherence to Islamic Shari’ah law and expressing admiration for the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. However, this is the first time they have been known to take up arms.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation of over 120 million people, has a majority Muslim population concentrated in the north and a minority Christian population resident in the South, with a significant number of followers of traditional African faiths.
Tension between Muslims and Christians has risen over the past four years - periodically erupting into violence that has killed thousands of people.
The scale of clashes has increased since a dozen northern states, including Yobe, began to adopt strict Shari’ah law.
Radical Muslim groups often accused the state governments of not being sufficiently zealous in the implementation of Shari’ah law, which prescribes harsh and controversial penalties, including the amputation of limbs for stealing, public flogging for drinking alcohol and stoning to death for adultery.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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