More terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists expected for the Nigerian Day of Independence (October 1st)

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) fears that the terrorist attacks committed by the Islamist Boko Haram sect in Nigeria will reach a sad milestone on Tuesday, the country's Day of Independence. According to information by the STP, 87 people were killed in northern Nigeria during the past five days. "In the states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa, radical Islamists committed 44 terrorist attacks with a total of at least 982 victims since May 2013," reported the the STP-consultant Ulrich Delius in Göttingen on Monday. "Nigeria's police has imposed the highest level of alert for the next few days because an escalation is expected."

The most severe act of violence occurred on Sunday morning in Gubja (Yobe State), when suspected Boko Haram fighters broke into a dormitory for students of agriculture and shot 42 young people in their sleep. The schools in Yobe had resumed lessons only 13 days ago – after they had been closed for ten weeks because of the terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists. In June and July, 29 students and four teachers had died in two terror attacks in Yobe.

18 people died in two attacks that took place in the states of Borno and Kaduna last Saturday. Seven people got killed when the village of Gava West (Borno state) was attacked – and eleven people died in the village of Zangang (Kaduna state) in the early hours. Numerous houses were burned down.

On Wednesday and Thursday of last week, 27 villagers and youths were killed in vigilante attacks by extremists in the vicinity of the town Gamboru in Borno state.

Given the increasing violence in Nigeria, there are more and more critical statements expressing skepticism regarding the certainty of a success for the security forces. On Sunday, even the former Chief of Staff of the army, General Martin Luther Agwai, had publicly expressed doubt that the military forces could be able to win the battle against Boko Haram. The General is convinced that there is no military solution to the conflict.