Nigerian security forces claim to have killed members of extremist Islamic group Boko Haram in the Nigerian city, Maiduguri.
Nigerian police forces clashed with members of the Islamic groups when gunfire erupted, on 20 February, following bomb blasts within the marketplace.
The attack on the market is just one in a number of incidents that have escalated in the African country over the years. The trouble in Nigeria has escalated when Boko Haram claim responsibility for a church bombing in the capital Abuja, killing nearly 40 people on 25 December 2011.
Boko Haram also claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in January in the City of Mubi and Yola, which saw nearly 20 people die. Just two weeks later over 180 people, 150 of whom were civilians and 35 policemen, were killed when Boko Haram members disguised themselves as policemen and opened fire in Kano.
Many of the countries problems have spanned from politics, involving the two major faiths within the country, Islam and Christianity. The two religious groups have been in conflict since the late 1990s over disagreements over land between the Christian Taroks and the Muslim Fula people.
The disagreement escalated in 2001 when Christians in the City of Jos rioted against the appointment-ship of Alhaji Muktar Mohammed, a Muslim politician who had been elected as governor of a local poverty alleviation food program. Clashes over a two day period between Muslim and Christians groups saw churches and mosques being burnt to the ground.
In 2004, Christians and Muslims clashed again in Nigerian City, Yelwa which ended with over 600 Muslim men, woman and children being slaughtered in a massacre attributed to the Christian members of Nigeria.
Over the years Muslim extremists associated with Boko Haram have conducted attacks against Christians in retaliation for the massacre as well as attacking Nigerian security forces on a number of occasions.
Boko Haram also conducted suicide bombings at the Police headquarters and the U.N Building in Madi which collapsed one side of the building in 2010.
The timeline documents the rise in violence between members of the Muslim and Christian groups. It helps to show when the conflict started and at one point in history that Boko Haram started to become a prominent group in Nigeria’s Muslim centre.
Related articles:
- The Boko Haram Menace (3) – Clear and Present Danger – AllAfrica.com (allafrica.com)
- Inmates freed in Nigeria jailbreak (edition.cnn.com)
