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Boko Haram has claimed duty for a suicide bombing on a Shiite Muslim procession close to the northern Nigerian city of Kano that killed 22 folks.
The hardline Islamist group mentioned in a statement in Arabic on social media its bomber “detonated his explosives which led to the death” of the victims on Friday.
At least 21 people have been initially reported killed, but the toll rose soon after a single much more individual was confirmed dead.
“For now, we have 22 deaths following the death of one particular more particular person yesterday. 38 folks have also been injured, two of whom have been discharged from the hospital,” 1 of the organisers of the march Ali Kakaki said.
He mentioned, regardless of the attack on Friday, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria members continued their march from Kano to Zaria in neighbouring Kaduna state, where their leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky is primarily based.
- Boko Haram, which signifies “Western education is sinful”, is loosely modelled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.
- The group considers all who do not follow its strict ideology as infidels, no matter whether they are Christian or Muslim.
- It demands the adoption of Sharia law in all of Nigeria.
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The march is to mark Ashura, which commemorates the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.
“Following the attack, numerous far more of our members have joined the procession,” Kakaki said, adding that they aimed to arrive at their destination subsequent week.
Friday’s attack took place in the village of Dakasoye, some 20 kilometres south of the city of Kano.
1 of the procession’s organisers stated a bomber clad in black ran into the crowd and detonated his explosives.
Boko Haram, the radical Sunni jihadists who want to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria, has previously been blamed for attacks on Shia Muslims in the region.
The militant group has waged a six-year insurgency which has left at least 17,000 people dead and made far more than 2.6 million homeless.
Boko Harm condemns Shias as heretics who must be killed.
The group has increasingly used suicide bombers against “soft” civilian targets since the commence of a military offensive earlier this year that pushed them out of territory they controlled.
Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari gave his military commanders till next month to finish the conflict, but there are fears that suicide and bomb attacks could persist.
AFP
Subjects: unrest-conflict-and-war, government-and-politics, nigeria