We Will Kill Again, Says Boko Haram

Boko Haram yesterday reacted formally to the barrage of condemnations against its Christmas Day bombing, insisting that what it did was correct and vowed to carry out more attacks.
The Islamic sect, whose actual name is Jama’atu Ahlissunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, confirmed in a statement issued by its leader Imam Abu-Muhammad Abubakar bin Muhammad Shekau that it was responsible for the December 25 bombing of a church in Madalla, a suburb of Abuja, in which at least 37 people were killed.

Shekau said in the statement written in the Hausa language and e-mailed to media houses by the group’s spokesman Abul Qaqa: “I am informing all Nigerians and the rest of the world that there is no doubt that we committed that act and God’s willing we will carry out further attacks.”
He revealed that the attacks are meant to avenge the “mass killing of Muslims carried out by Christians with the connivance of government” in northern towns like Kaduna, Zonkwa, Langtang, Yelwan Shendam, Jos, Tafawa-Balewa, and Numan, as well as in Shagamu and Ikoyi, Lagos in the south. The latest of such killings, according to the group, took place a few months ago on Eid el-Fitr Day in Jos, the Plateau state capital, during which non-Muslims cannibalised the burnt corpses of victims.
“We swear by Allah that we will avenge any form of injustice committed, being committed or to be committed against Muslims. This is just the beginning,” Shekau vowed.
The group also questioned the stance taken by Muslim leaders and traditional rulers who condemned the Christmas Day killings, saying they have no right to decide what Islam preaches on the responsibility of Muslim activists.
According to it, “the so-called Muslim leaders” should know that God, in the Qur’an (2:194) urges Muslims to avenge any transgression committed against them by non-Muslims. It also referred the Sultan of Sokoto, whom it derisively called “Emir of Sokoto,” to Qur’anic chapters and verses 2:190-194; 9::36, and 22:39-41, as well as the 134th Tradition in Sahih Muslim on the concept of jihad or holy war.
Shekau challenged the Muslim leaders to tell Nigerians why they did not condemn the Eid el-Fitr Day killings in Jos, which was documented on video, as well as the alternative way of avenging the killings since they found the Boko Haram way unacceptable.
The militant leader also denied the insinuations allegedly made in some quarters that a former minister of information, Prof. Jerry Gana, and secretary-general of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern States and Abuja, Elder Sa’idu Dogo, were sponsors of the group, asking rhetorically, “Is this, then, the job they sponsored us to carry out?”
SOURCE:  Blueprint