When will the killing stop? Latest Boko Haram attack caps week of bloodshed in Nigeria
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Topic: When will the killing stop? Latest Boko Haram attack caps week of bloodshed in Nigeria
Posted By: News Room
Subject: When will the killing stop? Latest Boko Haram attack caps week of bloodshed in Nigeria
Date Posted: 07/07/2015 at 12:05pm
http://" style="COLOR: #ff6600 - When
will the killing stop? Latest Boko Haram attack caps week of bloodshed in
Nigeria
By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST Ministries and the ASSIST News
Service, who was born in Nigeria
NORTH-EAST
NIGERIA (ANS -- July 5, 2015) -- A suicide bomber has attacked a church
in Nigeria, capping a week in which more than 200 people died in Boko Haram
violence.
According to the BBC, at least five worshippers were killed in Sunday’s
attack as they were entering the church in Potiskum in the north-east of the
country.
Sunday's attack was carried out at the Redeemed Christian Church of God on
the outskirts of Potiskum in Yobe state.
Witnesses and the police told AFP news agency that the pastor, a women and
her two children were among those killed.
The vicious
Islamist extremists of Boko Haram have carried out a six-year campaign of
violence in Nigeria's northeast.
The BBC says that recent attacks have brought condemnation from Nigeria’s
president. Muhammadu Buhari, speaking on Friday, described as a “heinous
atrocity” the latest wave of violence.
These attacks include:
* Friday: several suicide bombers kill large numbers in Zabarmari village
* Thursday: two female suicide bombers attack another village in Borno
state
* Wednesday: more than 50 gunmen kill 97 people in the village of Kukawa,
near Lake Chad
* Tuesday: 48 men shot dead after prayers in two villages near the town of
Monguno
Boko Haram took control of a large area of north-eastern Nigeria last year
and declared a caliphate (a state governed in accordance with Islamic law).
However,
Nigeria's military, backed by troops from neighboring countries, has recaptured
most of the territory.
“In an effort to counter the growing violence, Nigeria is leading a military
effort with neighboring countries. Mr. Buhari called for the regional military
force to be deployed more rapidly,” said the BBC story.
According to Amnesty International, at least 17,000 people, mostly civilians,
have been killed since 2009, when Boko Haram launched its violent uprising to
try to impose militant Islamist rule.
The group is still holding many women, girls and children captive, including
219 schoolgirls it kidnapped from a school in Chibok in April last year.
About Boko Haram:
* Founded in 2002, initially focused on opposing Western-style education -
Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden” in the Hausa language
* Launched military operations in 2009
* Joined Islamic State
* Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, abducted hundreds,
including at least 200 schoolgirls
* Seized large area in north-east, where it declared caliphate
* Regional force has retaken most territory
The big question is when will the killing stop by this violent group? And,
can they be stopped?
Photo captions: 1) Boko Haram terrorist about to launch another deadly
attack. 2) President Buhari has called for a regional force to be deployed more
rapidly. 3) A still taken from a video by Nigeria's Boko Haram terrorist network
shows the missing girls dressed up in Islamic garb for the camera.
4) Dan Wooding pictured as a baby with his father, missionary Alf Wooding,
shortly after he was born.
About the
writer: Dan Wooding, 74, is an award-winning author, broadcaster and journalist
who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, and is now living in
Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for nearly
52 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all
live in the UK. He has travelled widely in Africa for ANS.
Note: If you would like to help support the ASSIST News Service, please go to
www.assistnews.net
and click on the DONATE button to make you tax-deductible gift (in the US),
which will help us continue to bring you these important stories. If you prefer,
you can make a check out to ASSIST and mail it to PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA
92609, USA. Source: http://www.assistnews.net -
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Replies:
Posted By: News Room
Date Posted: 07/07/2015 at 12:14pm
Nigeria
President Buhari condemns Boko Haram’s ‘heinous’ attacks that left more than 200
Muslims dead this week
By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST Ministries and the ASSIST News
Service, who was born in Nigeria
BORNO
STATE, NIGERIA (ANS – July 4, 2015) -- Nigeria's president has
described as a “heinous atrocity” the latest wave of attacks by Boko Haram
militants that left more than 200 people dead in 48 hours of violence.
Muhammadu Buhari, himself a Muslim, also called for a faster deployment of a
regional military force to fight the Islamists.
The gunmen have been launching attacks on remote villages in the
north-eastern Borno state since Tuesday (June 30,2015) targeting people
attending evening prayers.
Mr. Buhari - who
was sworn in in May - sees fighting Boko Haram as a priority,” said the BBC.
According to Amnesty International, at least 17,000 people, mostly civilians,
have been killed since 2009, when Boko Haram launched its violent uprising to
try to impose militant Islamist rule.
Will Ross, the BBC’s Nigeria correspondent, said “No-one knows how many
people were shot or had their throats slit by the jihadists who targeted several
villages on Tuesday and Wednesday - it is impossible for people who are fleeing
for their lives or rushing the injured away in wheelbarrows to stay back and
count.
“The fact that it took as many as 48 hours for any news of the atrocities to
reach the main city in Borno State, Maiduguri, points to just how cut off and
vulnerable these communities are.
“Boko Haram may no longer hold territory but there is little to celebrate
when large swathes of the north-east are clearly not under any kind of
government control.”
In a statement on Friday, (July 3, 2015), President Buhari said the recent
attacks were “inhuman and barbaric.” He said they were “the last desperate acts
of fleeing agents of terrorism”.
The assaults began on Tuesday, when the militants shot dead 48 men after they
had finished prayers in two villages near the town of Monguno, a resident told
BBC Hausa.
He said he had heard gun shots at one of the villages attacked and saw it on
fire. “They were praying in the mosque when Boko Haram attackers descended on
the village. They waited till they finished the prayers. They gathered them in
one place, separated men from women and opened fire on them,” he added.
“On Wednesday (July 1, 2015), more than 50 gunmen killed 97 people in the
village of Kukawa, near Lake Chad, eyewitness Babami Alhaji Kolo was quoted as
saying by the AFP news agency.
“The terrorists first descended on Muslim worshippers in various mosques who
were observing the Maghrib prayer shortly after breaking their fast [for the
Muslim month of Ramadan],” he said.
“They...
opened fire on the worshippers who were mostly men and young children. They
spared nobody.”
On Thursday, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in another Borno
village, police said.
The BBC stated that the group is still holding many women, girls and children
captive, including 219 schoolgirls it kidnapped from a school in Chibok in April
last year.
* Founded in 2002, initially focused on opposing Western-style education -
Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden” in the Hausa language
* Launched military operations in 2009
* Joined Islamic State
* Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, abducted hundreds,
including at least 200 schoolgirls
* Seized large area in north-east, where it declared caliphate
* Regional force has retaken most territory
Note from Dan Wooding: Having been born in Northern Nigeria, I am appalled
with the brutality of Boko Haram. Up until now, they have been mainly focused on
killing Christians, but now they are now brutally murdering Muslims, mainly
because they are judged not to be extreme enough for this band of killers.
Photo captions: 1) Boko Haram extremist group leader Abubakar Shekau makes a
statement . 2) President Buhari said the attacks were “the last desperate acts
of fleeing agents of terrorism”. Photo: AFP. 3) Boko Haram Beheads 6-year-old
Christian Boy Because of His Faith. 4) Dan Wooding with his mother, Anne
Wooding, in December 1940 shortly after his birth in Vom, Nigeria.
About
the writer: Dan Wooding, 74, is an award-winning author, broadcaster and
journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, and is now
living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married
for nearly 52 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren
who all live in the UK.
Note: If you would like to help support the ASSIST News Service, please go to
www.assistnews.net
and click on the DONATE button to make you tax-deductible gift (in the US),
which will help us continue to bring you these important stories. If you prefer,
you can make a check out to ASSIST and mail it to PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA
92609, USA.
|
Posted By: News Room
Date Posted: 07/08/2015 at 8:07am
Suicide bomber attacks church in Nigeria
Published by https://www.mnnonline.org/news/suicide-bomber-attacks-c hurch-in-nigeria/" class="url fn" title="View all posts by Alex Anhalt - Alex Anhalt on July 8, 2015
Nigeria (MNN) — On Sunday afternoon a motorized rickshaw pulled
up in front the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Potiskum, the
capital of Yobe state in Nigeria. The driver was a suicide bomber
allegedly sent by Boko Haram. The explosives detonated after the bomber
entered the building, killing five members of the church.
https://www.mnnonline.org/mission_groups/open-door s-with-brother-andrew/ - Open Doors
say the bomber was disguised as a worshiper, and although officials
insist it was a male bomber, witnesses claim it was a woman. Traumatized
congregation members reported seeing the explosion originate from her
but were too afraid to give a name.
https://www.mnnonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/ 07/Nigeria-3.jpg"> (Photo Courtesy Open Doors Ministries)
The explosion killed six in all: the bomber, the church pastor, a
mother and her two children, and one other congregation member. Four
worshipers died instantly, the last succumbing to her injuries later in a
local hospital.
The building was under construction, but after the devastation of the
explosion, it will have to be rebuilt–not only as a building but as a
church of believers. The congregation will be forced to find a new
pastor in the midst of the chaos
Although Boko Haram has not actually claimed the attack as of yet,
Potiskum has been attacked repeatedly. As the church is situated just on
the outskirts of the city, it wouldn’t be a stretch to source yet
another suicide bombing to the insurgent group.
As Boko Haram continues to launch attacks against believers across
Nigeria, Open Doors is asking you to pray for the situations surrounding
the assaults. In some situations, local Muslims are even blaming
Christians for some of the attacks. Nigeria is already #10 on the Open
Doors World Watch List for countries where persecution against
Christians is the most severe, and it could quickly rise in rank if the
terrorism and religious extremism doesn’t stop. Source: http://www.mnnonline.org/ -
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Posted By: News Room
Date Posted: 07/08/2015 at 8:09am
Boko Haram attacks spike as Jesus saves
Published by https://www.mnnonline.org/news/boko-haram-attacks-spike -as-jesus-saves/" class="url fn" title="View all posts by Katey Hearth - Katey Hearth on July 8, 2015
https://www.mnnonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/ 07/CAM_Nigeria-church-bombed-07-07-15.jpg"> Remains of church building hit by explosives. (Photo, caption courtesy Christian Aid Mission)
Nigeria (MNN) — Hundreds of people across five states have died in suspected Boko Haram attacks over the past seven days.
Suicide bombings and civilian shootings, suspected to be connected to Boko Haram are an almost-daily occurrence.
However, there has been a noted rise since ISIS issued a worldwide call for more violence http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/06/27/isis-marks-anniversa ry-caliphate-amid-ramadan-calls-for-violence/ - last week.
Boko Haram certainly has been busy lately, but so has the Lord.
“There are members of Boko Haram who have heard the Gospel through
these very brave ministry workers, and they’ve seen their need to repent
and put their faith in Christ,” shares Amie Cotton of https://www.mnnonline.org/mission_groups/christian -aid-mission - Christian Aid Mission.
God at work
Christ-followers have been a favorite target for Boko Haram attacks
since the very beginning. That fact isn’t stopping indigenous
missionaries from sharing Christ with their persecutors, though.
“If the church is in hiding, who will know the church? There must be
missionaries who are so desperate for soul-winning that they’re ready to
die,” Christian Aid Mission’s Africa director said in a http://www.christianaid.org/News/2015/mir20150702.aspx - recent report.
https://www.mnnonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/ 11/BokoHaramVideo11-04-14.jpg"> Former
terrorists who came to Christ after hearing the Gospel from these
missionaries have been re-located to a safe house. As they learn the
Bible and become spiritually-grounded, the sins of their past are not
easily forgotten.
“So many of them are just struggling with forgiveness for the things
that they’ve done, wanting to ask God to forgive them for the mass
killings that they’ve been a part of,” Cotton says.
But, it’s their bloody past that will help Boko Haram converts speak to other Muslims about the Gospel.
Cotton explains, “It’s an incredible opportunity when one of them
becomes a believer, for area Muslims–whether they’re radical or
moderate–to wonder, ‘Well, why did they do that?'; you know, ‘what made
them change?’.”
Pray for Boko Haram converts as they grow in their knowledge of
Christ. Ask the Lord to protect them and use them to accomplish His
purposes.
“Prayer is so powerful, and I think sometimes we don’t give it its due,” notes Cotton.
Devastation and need continue
While Boko Haram attacks have killed more than 13,000 people in the past six years, the tragedy doesn’t stop there.
https://www.mnnonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/ 07/CAM_Nigerian-IDPs-07-07-15.jpg"> Following Boko Haram attacks, people from Mubi, Adamawa state, flee to Yola 150 miles away. (Photo, caption courtesy Christian Aid Mission)
“Right now, there are more than 70,000 people that are displaced,”
says Cotton, referring to the IDP camps in Adamawa state where
indigenous missionaries are focusing their efforts.
Nationwide, the insurgency has driven approximately 1.5 million Nigerians from their homes.
Cotton shares three things you can do to help them:
- Pray
- http://www.christianaid.org/News/2015/mir20150702.aspx - Give
- https://www.mnnonline.org/tag/nigeria/ - Learn
“So many times we’re so busy; it’s hard to take the time to think
outside of our circles, and know what’s going on on the other side of
the world,” she admits.
“[Yet] we CAN make a difference.” Source: http://www.mnnonline.org/ -
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