How enduringly strange that Misunderstanding of the Religion of Peaceâ„¢ is so widespread among its most devout adherents. Yet no one ever seems to consider the implications of this for national security issues. “Nigerian sect leader praises al Qaeda, warns US,” from Reuters, July 14 (thanks to Twostellas):
LAGOS (Reuters) – A former leader of a Nigerian Islamic sect behind an uprising last year which killed hundreds of people has issued a statement expressing solidarity with al Qaeda and threatening the United States.
Abubakar Shekau, a former deputy leader of the Boko Haram sect who was thought to have been killed by police in last year’s fighting, offered condolences for the deaths of al Qaeda commanders in Iraq in the statement on a jihadist website.
“Do not think jihad is over. Rather jihad has just begun. O America, die with your fury,” the statement said, according to a translation published by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group.
SITE said the statement was addressed to al Qaeda affiliated groups in Algeria, Somalia and Yemen, as well as Iraq.
A five-day uprising by Boko Haram around the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri a year ago killed close to 800 people, as security forces fought days of gun battles to end rioting by sect members.
Boko Haram is one of a number of militant movements in northern Nigeria which wants sharia (Islamic law) to be imposed more widely in Africa’s most populous nation….