Mosque Attack in Borno: Atleast 44 people killed.

 

I just caught this update on CNN.

 

Suspected Islamic militants wearing army fatigues gunned down 44 people praying at a mosque in northeast Nigeria, while another 12 civilians died in an apparently simultaneous attack, security agents said Monday.
Sunday’s attacks were the latest in a slew of violence blamed on religious extremists in this West African oil producer, where the radical Boko Haram group, which wants to oust the government and impose Islamic law, poses the greatest security threat in years.
It was not immediately clear why the Islamic Boko Haram would have killed worshipping Muslims, but the group has in the past attacked mosques whose clerics have spoken out against religious extremism. Boko Haram also has attacked Christians outside churches and teachers and schoolchildren, as well as government and military targets.

Details have been slow to emerge about the attack in Konduga, about 30 kilometers (almost 19 miles) southeast of Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria's northern Borno state.

The police official in Konduga spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.Twenty-six worshippers at the mosque were hospitalized with gunshot wounds, said a security guard at the emergency ward of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

Some villagers in Borno state have also been attacked in their own homes, accused of collaborating with government forces against Boko Haram, police sources said.

Local media reported that at least 12 people were killed on Saturday night in Ngom village alone.

In the video released by Boko Haram, its leader Abubakar Shekau claimed that the militant group is growing stronger despite the Nigerian military's efforts to curb its activities.

"You soldiers have claimed that you are powerful, and that you have defeated us, you say we are mad people; but how can a mad man organize the attacks in Gamboru, in Malumfatori, slaughter people in Biu, kill in Gwoza and in Bama successfully, where soldiers fled under our heavy fire power?" he said.

"We have killed countless soldiers and we are going to kill more. Our strength and firepower is bigger than that of Nigeria. Nigeria is no longer a big deal to us, as far as we are concerned.

"We will now comfortably confront the United States of America."

Shekau said the group would continue to kill unbelievers and "anyone who stands against the will of Allah by opposing Sharia," or Islamic law.