MOSCOW, April 9 (RIA Novosti) – The Nigerian military is murdering innocent Muslims under the guise of a campaign against terrorism, the leading Nigerian Islamic group Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI) has said in a statement.
“The dimension of extrajudicial killing of Muslims by the military on unsubstantiated suspicion leaves much to be desired, which clearly depicts that Muslims have become an endangered species, murdered and maimed indiscriminately under the guise of fighting terrorism,” the statement said earlier this week.
The Muslim group referred to the execution of Muslims in Nigeria’s central Nasarawa region last Thursday.
“JNI unequivocally condemns the extrajudicial killing of 15 Fulani Muslims in Keana, the raping and subsequent killing of the young girl Binta Usman, and all the human rights abuses on innocent Muslims in Maidugri,” the statement said.
The Nigerian army on Tuesday rejected the allegation that soldiers were carrying out attacks aimed at killing Muslims. It called the JNI’s statement false and ‘inflammatory.’
“The Nigerian military remains non-partisan, non-sectarian and will continue to be the symbol of patriotism and a unifying factor in the face of threats to national sovereignty,” the country’s Director of Defense Information, Chris Olukolade, said in a statement.
According to Human Rights Watch, over 10,000 people have been killed in central Nigeria since 1992 in clashes between Christians and Muslims.
