November 2011 Nigeria attacks
2011 Damaturi attacks | |
---|---|
Part of Nigerian Sharia conflict | |
Location | Damaturu and Maiduguri, Nigeria |
Date | 4 November 2011 17:30 (UTC+01:00) |
Target | Police stations, churches and banks[1] |
Attack type | Car bombings, shootings, suicide bombings |
Deaths | 100–150(100 confirmed dead, possibly up to 150)[2] |
Injured | 100–500 |
Perpetrator | Boko Haram |
The 2011
Background
Attacks
Among the targets hit were the headquarters of the Yobe State police, several government buildings and two banks, as well as at least six churches. An unnamed local official told reporters that hundreds of wounded people are being treated in hospitals after the devastation in the city of fifty thousand. Gangs or masked men roamed the streets for at least 2 hours, setting buildings on fire and engaging in street battles with security forces. Government officials confirmed at least 53 people died in a double suicide car bombing at the anti-terrorist court building and numerous witness accounts spoke of a death toll significantly larger than the current one.
Hours before the Damaturi assault three suicide bombers attacked a military headquarters in Maiduguri and injured at least seven people. News reports suggest that the nearby city of Potiskum was also attacked, and on the next day Nigerian TV reported a firebomb attack in the city of Kaduna that left two people dead.[3] At least three police stations and five churches were attacked.
Suleimon Lawal, the police commissioner of Damaturu, said that two suicide bombers drove a vehicle laden with explosives into the local anti-terrorist court killing 53 people.
Perpetrator
As Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attacks, its spokesman Abul-Qaqa said that "more attacks are on the way."[1]
Reactions
- Domestic
A government spokesman said that president
Ibrahim Bulama of the
Nii Akuetteh, a former executive director of Africa Action, said that: "The government has been saying that it will deal with [Boko Haram] and that it will get a handle on the problem, but it's not been able to. Previously, the attempt made was to try and fight them militarily – to send the security forces after them – but that has created its own problem. I know for a fact that there're Nigerian groups in and outside the government, including the media, who are suggesting that the government should try to talk to Boko Haram. But my own impression is that they don't seem to be particularly ready or inclined to talk."[1]
- International
- embassy issued an emergency warning to its citizens that bomb attacks could be possible at several luxury hotels across Abuja.[4] Nigerian National Security advisor General Owoeye Andrew Azazi dismissed the warning as simply creating panic.[5]
- Others
Isaac Olawale, of the Oxford University Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity said that: "The present attempt to deal with the problem using confrontational strategies will not work. There is poverty all over the country and an increased number of Nigerians are jumping into the warm embrace of ethnic, chauvinist and religious fundamentalism. Boko Haram expresses some of the social upheavals we are witnessing in Nigeria."[1]
David Zounmenou, of the Institute for Security Studies, said that: "The difficulty is the amount of weapons unleashed into the desert by the
See also
- Nigerian Sharia conflict
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Nigeria group threatens more deadly attacks – Africa". Al Jazeera.
- ^ "Nigeria group threatens more deadly attacks". Al Jazeera. 6 November 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ^ a b c "Nigeria Boko Haram attack 'kills 63' in Damaturu". BBC News. 5 November 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
- ^ "U.S. warns of possible terror attack in Nigeria". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Nigeria Faults US Bomb Alert". P.M. NEWS Nigeria. 7 November 2011.
- ^ Inside Story. "Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram? – Inside Story". Al Jazeera.