Nigeria: Islamic Terrorists Target Schools And Children – OpEd
By Jim Kouri
Radical islamists from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Boko Haram terror group yesterday used an incendiary device to burn the Maiduguri Experimental School to the ground. The private school burning brings the total of schools set ablaze to four, according to a police source in Israel.
According to an anonymous Israeli intelligence source, the group had burned down public primary schools in areas including Budum, Abba Ganaram and Kulo Gomna, all in the state capital.
One of Boko Haram’s stated goals is to stop western education. The violence-prone Islamic group has denied thousands of children secular educations, said the Public Safety Examiner’s Israeli source, who served as a police sergeant in the U.S. prior to relocating to Tel Aviv.
On Sunday, three people were confirmed dead when two suicide bombers attacked a church in central north Nigeria’s Plateau State. Two suicide bombers and a lady standing in the Church premises died when the bombers detonated their explosives at the main headquarters of the Church of Christ, the source revealed.
Meanwhile, the government of northwest Nigeria’s Gombe State has imposed a 24-hour curfew on its metropolis following an attack on Gombe Police Divisional headquarters on Friday night. The primary suspects in this latest terrorist act is the al-Qaeda ally Boko Haram, according to Nigerian police officials.
The attackers used explosives to bomb the station before firing sporadic gun shots, according to an Israeli source who frequently assists the Law Enforcement Examiner. Upwards of 40 explosions have been reported by police at the Gombe police division which is adjacent to the palace of the Emir of Gombe as well as other places, said the anonymous Israeli source.
While there is no claim of responsibility from any terrorist groups thus far, security sources say they confirmed the blasts had been carried out by the Boko Haram jihadists.
