Nigerian militant network Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the April 14 bombing of a bus station in Nyanya, a suburb of the capital Abuja, that killed 75 people. In a video message, Boko Haram commander Abubakar Shekau says he ordered the attack, but says nothing about the mass abduction of more than 100 teenage girls from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, most of whom are still missing. In the video, Shekau describes the bombing as a "tiny incident," and warns of many more to come. In words directed by name at President Goodluck Jonathan, Shekau says: "Jonathan, you are now too small for us. We can only deal with your grand masters like Obama the president of America. Even they cannot do anything to us. We are more than them."
Shekau also issued a video taking responsibility for the March 14 attack on the Giwa military barracks in Maiduguri, Borno state, in which several detainees were freed. Amnesty International charges that Nigeria's army killed some 600 people, mostly unarmed recaptured detainees, after regaining control of the facility. Boko Haram has been responsible for 3,982 deaths so far this year, according to the Nigeria Security Tracker website. (VOA, USA Today, April 21; 360nobs.com, April 20; This Day Live, April 16; AI, BBC News, March 31)
More terror in Abuja
A car bomb attack killed at least 19 people and injured 60 more outside the Nigerian capital Abuja on May 1. The explosion happened in the suburb of Nyanya, close to an outdoor bus station where at least 70 people were killed in a bomb blast on April 14. Witnesses said the explosion targeted a police checkpoint near the bus station. (BBC News)
Boko Haram mocks #BringBackOurGirls
As a global online #BringBackOurGirls campaign is launched to press the Nigerian government, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau for the first time claims responsibility for the April 15 mass abduction in a video statement in which he openly mocks the hashtag: "I abducted your girls." He boasts that the girls "will remain slaves with us… By Allah, I will sell them in the marketplace." The hour-long video starts with fighters lofting automatic rifles and shooting in the air as they chant "Allahu akbar!" (AP, May 5)
Yet most media reports continue to say the grils are being sold not into "slavery" but "forced marriage," a phrase rapidly emerging as hideous euphemism of the century. The number of abducted girls is now said to be as high as 300. Some 50 have apprently escaped.
More terror in Nigeria
At least 118 people were killed May 20 in twin blasts at a market in the central Nigerian city of Jos, Plateau state. The explosions, which targeted the city's Terminus market, went off some 20 to 30 minutes apart, setting fire to the entire venue. A state of emergency has been in effect for over a year now in the northeast states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. Over 1,000 have been killed in violence in the region over this period. (CNN)