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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Full Veil Banned in Key Niger Region over Boko Haram Fears |
| 2015-07-30 |
| [AnNahar] Authorities in Niger's Diffa area, on the border with Nigeria, have banned the full Islamic veil following suicide kabooms in countries in the region by women wearing the religious garment, an official said Wednesday. "Women in the region are forbidden from wearing the full veil until further notice, in order to prevent suicide attacks by 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... ," Diffa mayor Hankouraou Biri-Kassoum told AFP. The full veil has been banned in several regions of Cameroon ...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... after a string of bombings by women and girls, including attackers wearing the garment. "It's better to prevent danger," a security source told AFP, adding that "a growing number of women and maidens of tender years are wearing the full veil in Diffa." A night-time curfew has been imposed, while February's ban on cycle of violences -- the jihadists' vehicle of choice -- has been extended, the mayor said. Niger has joined a regional campaign alongside Chad, Niger and Nigeria to battle Boko Haram, whose insurgency has killed at least 15,000 people since 2009 in the name of founding an Islamic caliphate. While regional efforts have scored a number of victories in recent months, the Lions of Islam have unleashed a massive wave of violence since Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in in May. Dozens have been killed in a string of bombings and raids across the region. On July 12, the Islamists raided Diffa prison in a likely bid to free detained members, killing a guard, according to local authorities. Six days later, Boko Haram Lions of Islam killed 16 civilians in an attack on a southeastern Niger village. In June, 38 non-combatants were killed -- including 10 children -- in a Boko Haram attack targeting two villages close to Diffa. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |