Boko Haram violence continues in Nigeria

(Vatican Radio) Two attacks by suspected members of a Nigerian Islamic sect have killed at least 20 members of a vigilante group out to fight the sect.

Insurgents linked to the Islamic “Boko Haram” sect crept up on six members of the group known as the Civilian Joint Task Force who were sleeping in a north-eastern village. The suspected insurgents then shot them Monday night.

The attack came less than two days after suspected Boko Haram members killed 14 young vigilantes in neighbouring town of Bama.

The vigilante force has arisen in northeast Nigeria as a backlash against Boko Haram, and the group claims credit for thousands of arrests in Maiduguri, where Boko Haram started.

Long-time Africa correspondent for the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Massimo Alberizzi, said the real problem is not so much the large scale attacks, but the day to day violence that affects so much of the region: “Every day, every day there are killings there. The terrorists stop the cars on the corner, and they kill the people inside the car, without any apparent reason. And this is the real problem – every day there is violence.”

Since 2010, more than 1,700 people have been killed in attacks by the group known as Boko Haram, whose name, roughly translated, means “Western education is a sin”. The group wants to impose Islamic Sharia law throughout Nigeria.

Listen to Christopher Wells' report: