TURKEY ADDS NIGERIAN BOKO HARAM TO TERROR LIST

Boko Haram militant group (Image: Akhbar.alaan.tv) — **Boko Haram militant group (**Image: Akhbar.alaan.tv)

Ankara, 13 Sha’ban 1435/11 June 2014 (MINA) – Nigerian militant group, Boko Haram, whose abduction of 20 women on Thursday follows the kidnapping of 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria’s north eastern Borno state two months ago, has been added in a list of al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist groups by the Turkish government.

The decision by the Turkish cabinet to add Boko Haram to the list of people, institutions and organizatons related to al-Qaeda, was announced in Tuesday’s official government gazzette, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Meanwhile, suspected Boko Haram gunmen have reportedly kidnapped at least 20 women from a nomadic settlement in northeast Nigeria, where the rebel group abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in April, Al Jazeera report.

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The latest kidnappings are reported to have happened at a settlement near Chibok in Borno state, with one local leader putting the number as high as 40.

A local official told the AFP news agency, 40 young mothers were singled out and put into vehicles before being driven to an unknown location.

Alhaji Tar, a member of a vigilante group set up to resist Boko Haram’s attacks, told AFP the men arrived at noon on Saturday in the Garkin Fulani settlement and forced the women to enter their vehicles at gunpoint.

He said the group also took three young men who tried to stop the kidnapping.

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“We tried to go after them when the news got to us about three hours later, but the vehicles we have could not go far, and the report came to us a little bit late,” he said.

Almost 300 girls were snatched from Chibok, near the Cameroon border, on April 15. While 53 of the girls managed to escape, 223 girls remain missing.

The abductions have sparked widespread protests around Nigeria and a global campaign calling for their rescue with the United Nations warning the schoolgirls ‘definitely’ face the danger of rape.

Boko Haram, which means “Western education is forbidden” in Nigeria’s local Hausa language, first emerged in the early 2000s preaching against government misrule and corruption.

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The group later became violent, however, after the death of its leader in 2009 while in police custody.

In the five years since, the shadowy sect has been blamed for numerous attacks – on places of worship and government institutions – and thousands of deaths. (T/P09/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)