(Vatican Radio) Suspected Boko Haram militants have killed dozens of people in an
early morning attack on a village in remote northeast Nigeria, where the military
has been bombing extremists.
More than one hundred people are reported to have
killed in the attack on Izghe village in Borno state. Funeral rites for 52 Muslim
victims were held Sunday at a mosque in a nearby town. The area is dotted by mainly
Christian villages in a predominantly Muslim region, but the Nigerian militants have
killed Christians and Muslims indiscriminately, with frequent attacks on mosques and
churches.
Last week, the air force began daily aerial bombardments near Izghe
of extremist hideouts in the Sambisa Forest along the border with Cameroon. Insurgents
of the Boko Haram terrorist network routinely attack civilians after they are attacked
by the military.
Thousands have been killed and tens of thousands forced from
their homes by the state of emergency and by militants who want to create an Islamic
state in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer with a population of more than 160
million made up of about equal numbers of Christians and Muslims.