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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Suspected Boko Haram Gunmen Kill Seven as Nigerians Vote |
| 2015-03-29 |
| [AnNahar] At least seven people were killed in separate attacks in the northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... n state of Gombe on Saturday as the country held presidential elections, with suspected Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... gunnies opening fire on voters at polling stations. The first attacks happened in the neighboring villages of Birin Bolawa and Birin Fulani in the Nafada district of Gombe, which has been repeatedly targeted by the Islamists. An election official, who requested anonymity, said: "We could hear the gunnies shouting, 'Didn't we warn you about staying away from (the) election?'" Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video message last month that the The threat and a spate of suicide kabooms and bombings against "soft" targets in restive northern Nigeria have prompted the authorities to impose tight security across the country. The election official said the masked gunnies arrived in Birin Bolawa in a pickup truck at about 8:30 am (0730 GMT), just after accreditation for Saturday's presidential election had begun. One voter was rubbed out and others fled in panic. "They set fire to all the election materials we abandoned as we escaped," he added. Karim Jauro, a resident of Birin Fulani said the second attack happened at about 9:15 am, adding that had they known about the earlier shooting they would have abandoned the polling station. "As soon as people saw them they began to run away but the gunnies opened fire on the polling station, killing one man," he said. "They burnt the election materials. We strongly believe they are Boko Haram who have been warning people not to participate in the elections." Gunmen then stormed the town of Dukku, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the state capital Gombe city, at about 11:30, shooting randomly as voters queued up at polling stations, residents said. "They rubbed out three people and injured two others," said Ibrahim Ahmad, adding that the attackers then killed a state assembly politician and the local chief in the nearby herding village of Tilen. Bala Akilu, another resident who witnessed the shooting in Dukku, supported Ahmad's account. "The shooting disrupted accreditation but later some polling stations reopened after the gunnies had left," he added. "But others remained shut because voters had gone and were too afraid to return." Nigeria's presidential election had been due to be held on February 14 but security concerns forced the country's electoral commission to postpone it just a week before the scheduled vote. IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center said there were 28 Boko Haram attacks in the three weeks after the delay was announced compared with 18 in the three weeks beforehand -- a 56 percent rise. There was also an increase in attacks in the six weeks after a crackdown against the ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... "We also saw a 20 percent increase in the number of suicide attacks in this period," Matthew Henman, head of the center, said on Saturday. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |