MAIDUGURI— Islamic sect, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for June 25 bomb attacks in Lagos and Abuja which claimed several lives.
Five persons died in the Lagos explosion which occurred very close to Folawiyo tank farm while that of Abuja which went off in a shopping mall killed 22 persons.
Abubakar Shekau
Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, in a 16-minute video obtained by AFP yesterday also mocks the social media and protest campaign, BringBackOurGirls, which emerged after the Islamists kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls on April 14 from Chibok.
The girls, whose abduction has drawn unprecedented attention to Boko Haram’s five-year rebellion, are not pictured in the video, which was given to AFP through similar channels as past messages.
One previous recording showed more than 100 of the hostages, some of whom are Christian, reciting Muslim prayers. Shekau also said his loyalists carried out twin car bombings in May in Jos and a June attack at a college in Kano.
Shekau claims Abuja, Lagos bomb attacks
“We were the ones who detonated the bomb in filthy Abuja,” Shekau said in the video referring to a June 25 attack on a popular shopping centre in Abuja that killed at least 22 people.
Later that day a huge explosion also rocked the Apapa, which the authorities blamed on a cooking gas explosion, with no casualties.
“A bomb went off in Lagos. I ordered the bomber who went and detonated it,” Shekau says in the video, which shows him flanked by at least 10 gunmen in front of two armoured personnel carriers and two pick-up trucks. “You said it was a fire incident,” he added. “Well, if you hide it from people you can’t hide it from Allah.”
Shekau, in boasting about the Lagos attack, incorrectly identifies the Governor of Lagos State, taunting Adams Oshiomhole, who is in fact the Governor of Edo State. Lagos State is governed by Babatunde Fashola.
Declared a global terrorist by the United States and sanctioned by the UN Security Council, Shekau is thought to have previously claimed credit for attacks that he did not directly order.
Near the beginning of the video, Shekau calls several of the world’s most prominent Islamist extremists his “brethren.”
“May Allah protect you,” he said, listing IS chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri, Taliban leader Mullah Omar and several others.
Speaking in English, Shekau recited the BringBackOurGirls slogan used by activists to press for the release of schoolgirls.
“BringBackOurGirls… bring back our army,” he says, in what may be reference to a previous offer that the hostages could be freed if Nigeria releases Boko Haram fighters held in custody.
B’Haram blows off Maiduguri-Biu road bridge
Meanwhile, some gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members weekend planted Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs under the popular Madafuma bridge linking 185km Biu-Damboa- Maiduguri federal road where it exploded and damaged some remarkable portion of the bridge leaving motorists and passengers stranded.
The road has remained a death trap for the past two years with terrorists ambushing motorists and passengers leaving hundreds dead and the kidnapping of innocent civilians.
A few days ago, there was an ambush on the road where the terrorists sacked 195 Battalion of the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, after killing the Commanding Officer along side a Divisional Police Officer and over 15 soldiers and six policemen.
The bombing of the bridge, according to Mallam Musa Yakubu, took place on Saturday at about 2 a.m.
He said: “We heard a loud bang on Saturday and on Sunday morning when we gathered in Madafuma village to find out what happened, we found out that the bridge linking us with Biu Local Government Area and MA Dara Girau has been blown off.
“All motorists heading to Maiduguri from Biu especially long vehicles had no option than to turn back to Gombe while small vehicles had to maneuver the remaining tiny portion of the road which had not been affected by the blast, but it is very risky.”
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