Yes, I am Boko Haram – Immigration officer confesses, names other security personnel in Islamic sect

JTF spokesman, Sagir Musa

Nigerians have consistently maintained that the dreaded sect Boko Haram must surely have sympathisers in government and security agencies, considering how effective their attacks have been. Finally, there is proof.

A high profile Boko Haram member, who is an officer of Nigeria’s Immigration Services, Ahmed Grema Mohammed, has named some security personnel among those carrying out terrorist attacks in the country. His confession came after he was arrested by the men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Mohammed, who is an officer of the Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) attached to the Nangere office of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Yobe State, was apprehended at a checkpoint on the Maiduguri-Damaturu road while on his way to kill a former special adviser to the immediate past governor of the state.

Most of the personnel named by Mohammed have been arrested, while security agencies are on the trail of others.

The news of Mohammed’s arrest was contained in a JTF statement signed by the task force spokesman, Lt. Col Sagir Musa.

According to the statement, Mohammed had been on the wanted lists in the country and was arrested on August 17, this year for impersonating a lieutenant in the Nigerian Army.

“Mohammed confessed to be actively involved in the killings of some senior civil servants, security agents, and politicians in Damaturu who spoke against the activities of Boko Haram, particularly the former chairman of Damboa Council, Alhaji Lawal Kawu.

“He also took part in the attack on the old Police Headquarters in Damaturu, where some policemen were killed and large quantity of arms and ammunition carted away.

“In addition, he was among the terrorists that attacked Damaturu Prison, burnt some primary schools, the State CID office and the Police Safety Vehicle, among others.

“The suspect revealed to JTF that he and 15 other members of the organization were intensively trained for three months on G3 and AK 47 rifles, as well as in assassinations and special operations in Niger Republic.

“He also revealed names of some security personnel that participated in terrorists’ attacks in Borno and Yobe states.”

Recently, the Joint Task Force has recorded a string of successes against Boko Haram, including the killing of the sect’s spokesman, Abu Qaqa.

How Boko Haram kidnapped us for 2 months – French family speaks on their ordeal (PHOTO)

Ex-hostages Cyril (L) and Tanguy Moulin-Fournier upon their arrival in Paris, with President François Hollande.
Reuters/Thomas Samson

Members of the family held hostage for two months by a Nigerian Islamist group spoke about their ordeal on French national television over the weekend. They said the four children helped them get through the tough times.

Albane Moulin-Fournier said during the prime-time interview on France 2 Saturday night that there had been some “very hard moments, physically,” during their captivity.

Albane was held in a different location than her husband, Tanguy, who said they were put in extreme heat with little access to water.

Tanguy’s brother Cyril said a routine of daily activities for the children helped the family keep their sanity.

“There were activities. We folded up the sheets in the morning. We went to  prepare breakfast,” said Cyril. “It was important to keep up a daily routine.”

Albane said her four children, aged 5 to 12 years old, tolerated the situation very well, given the circumstances. “[The children] did not cry, did not have nightmares,” she said. “They played with whatever they could find, bits of wood, empty sardine tins.”

Things started to look hopeful for the family’s release, said Albane, when their captors began feeding them fruit and eggs, perhaps to help them put on the weight they had lost during captivity.

Tanguy and Cyril appeared clean-shaven during the interview, after arriving in Paris with bushy beards following their release. All three ex-hostages were thinner than before their kidnapping, but healthy.

The family was turned over to Cameroonian authorities on Thursday, and arrived back in Paris on Saturday morning. They were greeted at the airport by France’s President François Hollande, who declared, “Today, life has won.”

They were kidnapped in Cameroon on 19 February during a visit to a national park in the north, before being taken to Nigeria and held by the Islamist group Boko Haram.

The family had been living in Cameroon since 2011, where Tanguy was posted with GDF Suez. His brother Cyril had come to Cameroon on vacation, to visit the family.

Despite their kidnapping, Tanguy said he would still happily return to Cameroon.

“It’s a superb country,” said Tanguy. “We were there for two years. We have friends there and Cameroonian brothers.”

Read more: RFI

Car bomb at French embassy in Tripoli

A car bomb hit the France embassy in Libya, wounding two French guards and causing extensive damage in the first attack on a foreign mission since militants stormed the US consulate in Benghazi in September.

The Libyan foreign ministry called the attack in Tripoli a “terrorist” incident.

An AFP correspondent at the site said the wall surrounding the property was destroyed and the embassy building extensively damaged. Two cars parked near the embassy were also destroyed.

The explosion occurred around 7:00 am (0500 GMT), residents said.

A French source confirmed an attack against the embassy and said one guard was seriously wounded and another lightly hurt.

The mission is located in a two-storey villa in the upmarket Gargaresh area.

“We heard a loud blast at 7:00 am. It was a big mistake to site the French embassy in our neighbourhood,” said a local resident.

France condemned the”odious” attack.

“In liaison with the Libyan authorities, the services of the state will do everything to establish the circumstances of this odious act and rapidly identify the perpetrators,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement.

The impact of the explosion also severely damaged two villas near the embassy, while windows of a shop 200 metres (yards) away were blown out.

Car bomb at French embassy: surveying the wreckage. AFP

The street in front of the mission was flooded with water, apparently from a pipe ripped by the blast.

There was no immediate information on who carried out the attack or what the motives.

France, under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, led air raids against the forces of then Libyan ruler Moamer Kadhafi in 2011 after a rebellion against his regime erupted.

The operation, under a UN resolution aimed at protecting civilians in Libya, helped defeat and topple Kadhafi’s regime, and the dictator was killed in October 2011 after an eight-month conflict.

Since Kadhafi’s fall, Libya has been plagued by persistent insecurity, especially in the region of Benghazi, which has been hit by bombings and assassinations that has forced many Westerners to leave the eastern city.

In September, an attack on the US consulate killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

Breaking News: Boston Bombing Suspect Arrested

The hunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ended Friday night when authorities captured the suspect wanted in connection to the bombing Monday at the Boston Marathon, according to the Boston Police Department.

Law enforcement officials in Watertown, Mass. responded to the site of reported gunfire around 7:00 p.m. — approximately one hour after lifting a lockdown on the area — where they found Tsarnaev, 19, hiding inside a small boat. Police cornered the suspect, not far the site of a shootout the previous night that killed his brother and supposed accomplice, Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

 

The streets of Watertown erupted in cheers as news came that the suspect had been captured alive, according to HuffPost reporters Christina Wilkie and Michael McLaughlin.

“I’m happy they caught him. Im happy he’s alive. I want to know why,” said Jeannette Harvey, a Watertown resident who works at Massachusetts General Hospital in the trauma ward.

Residents were relieved as a heavily guarded ambulance heading east on Mount Auburn Street. It was unclear who was riding inside, but there was a sense that the danger was over.

The violent manhunt unfolded one night after FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers vowed that the alleged bombers, first identified as “Suspect 1″ and “Suspect 2″ would be “brought to justice.”

This is a breaking news story.

WATERTOWN, Mass. — A 19-year-old college student wanted in the Boston Marathon bombings was taken into custody Friday evening after a manhunt that left the city virtually paralyzed and his older brother and accomplice dead.

Police announced via Twitter that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was in custody. His brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan, was killed Friday in a furious attempt to escape police.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been holed up in a boat in a Watertown neighborhood. The crowd gathered near the scene let out a cheer when spectators saw officers clapping.

“Everyone wants him alive,” said Kathleen Paolillo, a 27-year-old teacher who lives in Watertown.

Boston Mayor Tom Menino tweeted “We got him,” along with a photo of the police commissioner speaking to him.

 

 

 

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Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechen President, Suggests Boston Bombing Suspects Products Of American Upbringing

In the wake of a national manhunt for suspects in the Boston bombings, law enforcement have identified Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, brothers with ties to a Russian region near Chechnya. Now Chechnya’s pro-Russian president, Ramzan Kadyrov, has spoken out about the suspects’ backgrounds.
In a statement on his Instagram, Kadyrov expressed sadness for the victims of the bombings but denied that the brothers have any ties to his region.
We have previously expressed our condolences to the people of the city and the people of America,” Kadyrov wrote in Russian, according to a translation obtained by The Huffington Post.

He also expressed the hope that suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev would be captured alive.

However, any attempt to connect the brothers to Chechnya is in vain, Kadyrov continued. The boys were raised in the United States, and therefore their beliefs were formed there and not in Chechnya, he said.

“It is necessary to seek the roots of evil in America,” Kadyrov wrote, according to a translation from Foreign Policy.

The president, who leads a region that in the past has been torn apart by violence and civil wars of its own, added that the fight against terrorism is a global one and said he wished the victims of the events a swift recovery.

In a separate report, this one published in Russian publication Lenta, Kadyrov apparently struck a harsher note, making a vague pronouncement that seemed to blame the suspects’ actions on U.S. intelligence. This report has not been confirmed however.

Speaking to reporters Friday, the suspects’ uncle Ruslan Tsarni maintained that his nephews’ alleged behavior does not reflect the values of Chechnya.

“Chechens are different, Chechens are peaceful people,” Tsarni said, adding that the suspects have brought “shame on the entire Chechen ethnicity.

 

 

 

huffingtonpost