The Nigerian federal government said on Thursday it suspects members of the Islamic State West African State (ISWAP) terrorist group in the massacre that left 40 people dead at a Catholic church in southern Nigeria on Sunday.
“We have seen traces of ISWAP in the horrific attack on Ovo and are following them. Our security services are on the way and we will hold them accountable,” Nigerian Interior Minister Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola told reporters in Abuja, Nigeria’s national capital, on 9 June.
An unknown number of gunmen in St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo state, attending mass on a Sunday morning, June 5. In addition, the militants detonated an unlimited number of bombs in or near the church. aspirant newspaper
“A total of 127 people were injured in the attack on the church, which killed 40 people, 61 were hospitalized and 26 were discharged,” Ondo State Governor Arakunrin Akeredolu told Reuters on 9 June.
Reuters previously quoted local doctors as saying that at least 50 people died in the incident. However, these missing figures are unofficial.
Owo is located in the state of Ondo in southwestern Nigeria. The region typically sees fewer Islamic terrorist attacks than northeastern Nigeria, where jihadists have spearheaded violent Islamic uprisings for more than a decade.
During the funeral prayer in Ngala on December 15, 2019, men carry the bodies of 19 shepherds who were shot by Boko Haram jihadists near the village of Phuhe, near Ngala, on December 14, 2019. (via AUDU MARTE/AFP Getty Images)
ISWAP is the official name of Boko Haram, a jihadist terrorist group founded in northeastern Nigeria in 2009. Boko Haram changed its own ISWAP in 2015 after swearing allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. (ISIS). Nigerian government officials said the opposition wing of Boko Haram survived after the group changed its name and swore allegiance to ISIS. According to some observers, Abuja insisted on the existence of this alleged branch to eventually claim victory over the alleged branch and blame the subsequent terrorist attack on ISWAP. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari often refers to this premise when trying to take credit for the alleged “victory over Boko Haram,” but has yet to provide evidence to support this claim.
ISWAP claimed responsibility for two separate terrorist attacks in Nigeria in April: an explosion in the northeastern state of Tabara (April 22) and a deadly gun attack on a police station in central Kogi state (April 23).
“A total of 6,006 Christians were attacked in Nigeria from January 2021 to March 2022, with a recent survey finding that number has more than doubled in recent years,” the Association for Catholic Knowledge in Africa (ACI AFRIKA) reported in April. . 23.
Citing an April 5 report by the International Association for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), ACI AFRICA said that in just three months (January-March 2022), more than 900 Christians were killed by Boko militants. . Fulani herders. [jihadist terrorists]”.
Source: Breitbart
