Reports: Boko Haram village raids kill hundreds in Nigeria
This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by ucrdem (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).
Source: CNN
Kano, Nigeria (CNN) -- Hundreds of people were killed in raids by Boko Haram Islamic militants in northeast Nigeria's Borno state, on the border with Cameroon, with some sources putting the death toll at 400 to 500. On Tuesday, heavily armed men dressed as soldiers in all-terrain vehicles and on motorcycles attacked neighboring Goshe, Attagara, Agapalwa and Aganjara villages in Gwoza district, shooting residents to death and burning homes.
The attacks forced surviving villagers to flee to Cameroon and into the Mandara Mountains on the border. "The killings are massive. Nobody can say how many people were killed, but the figure runs into some hundreds," said Peter Biye, a lawmaker in Nigeria's lower parliament representing the Gwoza region.
"The area is still under the control of the insurgents, and residents can't go back to bury the dead because of the danger involved," he said. On Wednesday, a military jet bombarded Boko Haram positions to dislodge the militants from the villages they have occupied, forcing them to temporarily withdraw. "They returned immediately after the jet left, making it too risky for villagers to return to bury the dead," Biye said.
Dead bodies litter the area around the attacked villages. Ground troops have yet to go to the area to push out the insurgents, he said. The attackers, who posed as soldiers, told residents they had come to protect them from Boko Haram and asked them to assemble. They singled out men and boys and opened fire on them, Biye said.
Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/05/world/africa/boko-haram-village-raids/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Nigeria's militant Islamist group Boko Haram - which has caused havoc in Africa's most populous country through a wave of bombings, assassinations and now abductions - is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.
Its followers are said to be influenced by the Koranic phrase which says: "Anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed is among the transgressors".
Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it "haram", or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with Western society.
This includes voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers or receiving a secular education.
Boko Haram regards the Nigerian state as being run by non-believers, even when the country had a Muslim president. The group's official name is Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad".
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13809501
They want an Islamic state.
