Monday, November 8, 2010

Boko Haram Confirms Link With Al-Qaeda . Iranian weapons seized in Nigeria

The Muslim Fundamentalist group, Boko Haram has confirmed that it is now operating under the umbrella of Al-Qaeda. In posters that flooded the city of Maiduguri, pasted on the evening of Thursday 21st October, the group threatened to continue with its serial killings in Borno and other adjoining states in the North. Significantly, the posters featured the logo of al-Qaeda in the North Africa – an open Quran, flanked on each side by Kalashnikov assault rifles and a flag in the middle.
According to the Saturday Tribune of October 23, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had earlier in the month carried an interview with a spokesperson of Boko Haram in Maiduguri, where the group demanded they be granted amnesty, such as was accorded Niger-Delta militants.
Meanwhile, a cache of sophisticated weapons was intercepted by vigilant security at Lagos Port, late October. An international twist was introduced when Israeli security announced that the weapons, which originated from Iran, were actually meant for Gaza and were only being passed enroute Nigeria. Apparently the Iranians were still thinking of pre-Jubilee Nigeria where anything goes! In those days, it might not have taken more than a phone call from Arabia land to the Nigerian Presidency before the cache would have been cleared for re-export, as the people involved were reportedly trying to do.

No comments: