Nyanya Bombing: Boko Haram Claims Responsibility

Terrorist group, Boko Haram, has claimed
responsibility for the Nyanya attack in a video obtained Saturday, as the search continued for 85 schoolgirls still missing after a mass abduction by the Islamists.
The bombing at a bus station packed with
morning commuters early on Monday killed
at least 75 people on the outskirts of Abuja,
hours before gunmen kidnapped 129 girls from a school in northeastern Borno state, Boko Haram's base.
The shock of the bombing and the kidnapping,
which have broad worldwide condemnation, have underscored the serious threat posed by the insurgents to Africa's most populous country and wealthiest economy.
"We are the ones that carried out the attack in
Abuja," Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau
said in video message obtained by AFP.
"We are in your city but you don't know where we are."
Shekau, declared a global terrorist by the United States which has a $7 million (5.1 million euro) bounty on his head, spoke in Arabic and the Hausa language that is dominant in northern Nigeria.
The 28-minute video made no reference to the
abductions from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok but the military, local officials and girls who have escaped have blamed that attack on Boko Haram.
Borno's education commissioner Inua Kubo told
journalists late on Friday that 14 more girls had
been found, leaving 85 girls still missing.
Some girls had escaped immediately after the
kidnapping, jumping off the back of a truck as
the Islamists tried to cart them away under the
cover of darkness.
It was not yet clear how the latest group
managed to flee, but Kubo said 11 were found in a town on the road that connects Chibok to
Borno's capital Maiduguri, and three others had
fled back to their school.
Some of those who escaped earlier this week said the hostages were taken to the Sambisa Forest area, where Boko Haram is known to have well fortified camps.
The military said it had launched a major search
and rescue operation, but some in the region say they have lost confidence in the security forces after the defence ministry issued an erroneous report claiming that most of the girls were safe.
That statement, issued late on Wednesday, said
all but eight of those abducted were free, but
defence spokesman Chris Olukolade was forced to withdraw the report on Friday after it turned out to be inaccurate.