Boko Haram claims responsibility for mosque, church attacks

The spokesman of the Jamaatu Ahlis Sunnah lil daawati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack at a mosque in Sheka, Kano where five worshippers were killed as well as the bomb blast at COCIN church headquarters in Jos yesterday which claimed the lives of three people, two of whom were the suicide bombers.

Abul Qaqa, who made the claims via a telephone conference with journalists in Maiduguri, also said the sect was responsible for torching a primary school in Maiduguri last week and Friday’s attack on a police station and the main prison in Gombe.

Mr. Qaqa said his sect carried out the attack on the mosque in Kano because some of the worshippers there were assisting security operatives in tracking down members of the sect.

“We went to a mosque in Kano because we have been pursuing some of our
targets that assisted security agents in tracking down our members,” Mr. Qaqa said.

The sect spokesman, who spoke in Hausa language all through the tele conference, also said they decided to attack the prison and police station in Gombe in order to free some people that were arrested and kept in custody there and also cart away ammunitions.

“We attacked Gombe because; last week some Christians desecrated the Holy Qur’an in the town. And when Muslim brothers staged a protest, security agents arrested them and took them to prisons and police cells.

Speaking further,Mr.  Qaqa said, “The same security men also sneaked away the perpetrators of the act and hide them somewhere without taking any punitive measure against them. Thanks to Allah, we have succeeded in freeing our Muslim brothers at the cells and also took away weapons in police stations and prison.”

On yesterday’s suicide attack on the headquarters of COCIN church in Jos, Mr. Abul Qaqa said they carried out the attack to avenge the killing of Muslims in Plateau state and that contrary to widespread reports that there were two bombers, Mr. Qaqa said the sect deployed only one suicide bomber for the operation.

“The attack in Sultaniyya (Plateau) by a lone bomber was a fulfillment of a promise we made long ago that we would avenge the killing of innocent Muslims in Jos without provocation. It is a reaction meant to assuage the pains our brothers have been going through.”

The sect, according to its spokesman, is also responsible for torching of a primary school in Maiduguri to avenge an assault on an Islamic school in Maiduguri by some soldiers and is also a fulfillment of the promise made by their leader, Abubakar Shekau, not to allow any assault on the Holy Quran go unpunished.

When newsman asked Qaqa about another attempt to bomb COCIN church in Bauchi yesterday for which some Christian me were arrested, the man promptly denied the sect’s involvement on the attempted attack.

“ We are aware that some people have been perpetrating heinous crime and then quickly attribute it to us. Assuming the Christians that attempted to attack a Church in Bauchi have succeeded, some people would attribute the attack on us, but we have no hand in that at al,l” Mr. Qaqa said.