Boko Haram 'threatens Nigerian Christians and troops'

AFP

2 January 2011

Boko Haram 'threatens Nigerian Christians and troops'

A purported spokesman for Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has issued an ultimatum to Christians in the country's north and threatened troops after the president declared a state of emergency in hard hit areas.

Meanwhile, Nigeria began sealing off part of its border in the country's northeast as part of the emergency declaration, while security agencies plotted their next moves in dealing with the Islamists.

Abul Qaqa, who has spoken on behalf of the group blamed for scores of attacks in Africa's most populous nation numerous times in the past, said he was giving southerners living in the north a three-day ultimatum to leave.

"We find it pertinent to state that soldiers will only kill innocent Muslims in the local government areas where the state of emergency was declared," he told journalists in a phone conference late Sunday.

"We would confront them squarely to protect our brothers."

Speaking in the Hausa language common throughout the north, Qaqa said "we also wish to call on our fellow Muslims to come back to the north because we have evidence that they would be attacked.