Askari Kanzu
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- Jan 7, 2011
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Red Cross: Gunmen, bombs kill 63 in Nigeria
From Christian Purefoy, CNN. November 5, 2011
*"It is a very bad scene," a Red Cross official says
*Gunmen first attacked the police offices before moving to churches and mosques
(CNN) -- A series of bomb and gun attacks targeting police stations, mosques and churches left 63 people dead in northeastern Nigeria, a Red Cross official said Saturday.
Attackers left scores injured -- probably more than 100 -- in the three-hour rampage in the Yobe state city of Damaturu, according to Ibrahim Bulama of the Red Cross.
"It is a very bad scene," he said.
Gunmen first attacked the police headquarters and the anti-terror office before moving to churches and mosques, he said. Most of the casualties are police officers.
The attack came the same day suicide bombers suspected to belong to a militant Islamist group targeted a military base in nearby Maiduguri.
Three suicide bombers drove a stolen black SUV toward a Joint Task Force headquarters, but could not get through the gate, military spokesman Lt. Col. Hassan Mohammed said.
The blast damaged roofs and walls of the base. Mohammed said two other simultaneous explosions took place at other military facilities. An unspecified number of Nigerian soldiers suffered injuries. He blamed the militant group Boko Haram for the attacks.
Loosely translated, the group's name means "Western education is sinful." It wants to establish a state based on Sharia, or Islamic law, in northern Nigeria.
The Red Cross official said Boko Haram is suspected in the Damaturu attack as well.
-CNN
From Christian Purefoy, CNN. November 5, 2011
*"It is a very bad scene," a Red Cross official says
*Gunmen first attacked the police offices before moving to churches and mosques
(CNN) -- A series of bomb and gun attacks targeting police stations, mosques and churches left 63 people dead in northeastern Nigeria, a Red Cross official said Saturday.
Attackers left scores injured -- probably more than 100 -- in the three-hour rampage in the Yobe state city of Damaturu, according to Ibrahim Bulama of the Red Cross.
"It is a very bad scene," he said.
Gunmen first attacked the police headquarters and the anti-terror office before moving to churches and mosques, he said. Most of the casualties are police officers.
The attack came the same day suicide bombers suspected to belong to a militant Islamist group targeted a military base in nearby Maiduguri.
Three suicide bombers drove a stolen black SUV toward a Joint Task Force headquarters, but could not get through the gate, military spokesman Lt. Col. Hassan Mohammed said.
The blast damaged roofs and walls of the base. Mohammed said two other simultaneous explosions took place at other military facilities. An unspecified number of Nigerian soldiers suffered injuries. He blamed the militant group Boko Haram for the attacks.
Loosely translated, the group's name means "Western education is sinful." It wants to establish a state based on Sharia, or Islamic law, in northern Nigeria.
The Red Cross official said Boko Haram is suspected in the Damaturu attack as well.
-CNN
