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Boko Haram wants
soldiers withdrawn from Maiduguri
Reuters
Wed Jul 13, 2011 6:59pm GMT
By Ibrahim Mshelizza
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, July 13 (Reuters) - A radical Islamist sect
behind almost daily attacks in the northeastern Nigerian state
of Borno said on Wednesday it would not open dialogue with the
government until the military withdrew from the region.
Thousands fled the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the capital
of Borno, this week and the local university was shut after
clashes between Boko Haram and the security forces.
The sect, which says it wants a wider application of sharia
Islamic law across Africa's most populous nation, has claimed
responsibility for the killings of police officers and attacks
on churches and drinking places in recent months.
Abu Zaid, a spokesman for Boko Haram, said in a phone conference
with the local press on Wednesday, "All soldiers deployed to
Borno as part of the Joint Task Force must be withdrawn before
any dialogue could be opened with government."
He said 19 members of the sect had been killed in recent clashes
with the military. He also warned journalists to be neutral in
their reporting or they would be treated as saboteurs.
Boko Haram's statement came 24 hours after Borno state elders,
who include former government ministers and police officers,
called on the JTF to withdraw from Maiduguri, saying its siege
of Boko Haram was causing more harm than good.
"Borno elders have demanded the immediate withdrawal of all
soldiers on the streets of Maiduguri because the soldiers have
been burning down houses, killing innocent people and looting
private property," a statement from the elders said.
The military has denied accusations it is using unnecessary
force.
The streets of Maiduguri have been silenced this week as
residents abandoned their homes to seek safety in the
countryside and distant cities.
Bomb blasts in the north have replaced militant attacks on oil
facilities hundreds of kilometres (miles) way in the southern
Niger Delta as the main security threat in Nigeria. The United
States and European Union have condemned the violence.
Boko Haram strikes have spread farther afield in recent months,
including a bomb in the car park of national police headquarters
in the capital, Abuja, last month. (Writing by Joe Brock;
Editing by Nick Tattersall and Peter Cooney)
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