Boko Haram: Attacks Customs office kills three!

NO fewer than three persons died yesterday when suspected members of the radical Muslim sect, Boko Haram, attacked a Customs office in Maiduguri.

Authorities quickly blamed Boko Haram, which on Sunday night dropped bombs that killed 25 people at local beer parlours in the Borno State capital. Boko Haram wants strict Shariah law implemented across the North.

The continued violence surrounding Maiduguri has left the city in fear as the authorities seem unable to stop the group from attacking at will.

The Federal Government has raised a Task Force, headed by Major-Gen. Jack Okechukwu Nwaogbo, to hunt down the Islamic sect.

Yesterday's attack hit the Customs office as officials held a meeting, said Maj.-Gen. Nwaogbo. The assault included explosion of bombs and gunfire, which killed three people outside of the building, he said.

No fewer than two Customs officials were wounded in the attack.

On Sunday, Boko Haram members riding on motorcycles attacked three makeshift bars in the city.
Witnesses and others said about 25 people died in the beer parlour attacks. Nwaogbo declined to offer a casualty information yesterday during a news conference.

"What caused the killings of many people in the attacks were when about 10 gunmen riding seven motorcycles surrounded and took strategic positions at the beer sheds and shops and started firing at the people with their Kalashnikov rifles, before setting ablaze the entire makeshift shacks," he said.

While no arrests have been made over the beer parlour attacks, he said police arrested two men carrying explosives at a church in the city. He said they had pretended they wanted to convert from Islam.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language, is responsible for a rash of killings which have targeted police officers, soldiers, politicians and clerics in the North over the last year — including attacks on beer parlours.

They have also attacked churches and engineered a massive prison break. However, authorities say attacks intensified after the April 26 governorship elections kept the same political party in power.

Senate President David Mark has said the security challenges facing the nation will top Senate's agenda as it reconvenes for the plenary session today.

The Senate President spoke when the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Andrew Lloyd visited him in Abuja. He said Nigeria will be delighted to explore the British approach to insecurity in order to arrest the situation in Nigeria.

He reiterated the commitment of the government to ensuring adequate security to the citizenry.