2014-02-17 09:46:32

Dozens dead in attack on Nigerian village


(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.

Listen to Seàn Patrick Lovett's report: RealAudioMP3







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