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south and a
Muslim north. And Shekau said he remains
prepared to order more violence to
accomplish that he leader of a radical
Islamist sect launching increasingly bloody
attacks in Nigeria has rejected offers for a
negotiated peace, instead promising to
kidnap government officials' family members
and bomb schools, according to an Internet
audio message allegedly posted by the group.
The message by
Imam Abubakar Shekau of the sect known as
Boko Haram comes amid continuing unrest in
north Nigeria following the group's attack
in Kano that killed at least 185 people. A
daylight attack on Muslim traders in the
north killed 15 people, while gunmen also
have kidnapped a German there.
Shekau's
40-minute message also for the first time
discusses Boko Haram's goal: Complete
adoption of Islam across Nigeria, a
multiethnic nation of more than 160 million
people split largely between a Christian
south and a Muslim north. And Shekau said he
remains prepared to order more violence to
accomplish that.
"If (Nigerian
security forces) are going to places of
worship and destroying them, like mosques
and Quranic schools, you have primary
schools as well, you have secondary schools
and universities and we will start bombing
them," Shekau said. "Touch us and see. That
is what we will do."
The video
posted to YouTube on Wednesday shows a still
image of Shekau sitting on a beige sofa, a
Kalashnikov rifle at his back. Speaking at
times in Arabic, English and the Hausa
language of Nigeria's north, Shekau said
negotiations suggested by President Goodluck
Jonathan between the sect and the government
will not happen.
"He's lying.
He cannot do it," Shekau said. "If Jonathan
does not repent as a Muslim, even if I die
myself, Jonathan's going to see. He's
looking at me like I'm nobody, but he'll
see."
In the
message, Shekau acknowledged that Boko Haram
carried out the Jan. 20 attacks in Kano,
Nigeria's second largest city that killed at
least 185 people. Gunmen from the sect armed
with explosives and assault rifles, some
wearing army and police uniforms, others
suicide car bombers, attacked police
stations, immigration offices and the local
headquarters of Nigeria' secret police.
However,
Shekau denied killing civilians in the
attack, claiming the sect's gunmen tried to
protect the more than 9 million people who
live in the important city in Nigeria's
north. Government officials have said many
of those killed by the sect were Muslim
civilians.
"We're killing
police officers, we're killing soldiers and
other government people who are fighting
Allah and Christians who are killing Muslims
and talking badly about our Islamic
religion," Shekau said. "I am not against
anyone, but if Allah asks me to kill
someone, I will kill him and I will enjoy
killing him like I am killing a chicken."
Shekau also
said the sect's attack on Kano came after
the arrests, and in some cases torture, of
sect members' wives and children. Nigeria's
federal police often arrest family members
to force those they want into turning
themselves over to authorities.
The Associated
Press could not immediately verify the
authenticity of the recording, though it
sounded like others attributed to Shekau in
the past
Courtesy AP |
