Attacks in northeast Nigeria's Borno not religious

The attack by Boko Haram insurgents in Izge area of northeast Nigeria's Borno State last Saturday did not target any religious group, the state governor Kashim Shettima said on Wednesday. Earlier reports on alleged mass killing of Christians in Izge is untrue because Izge is a predominant Muslim community and most of the victims are Muslims, said Shettima. "What is happening is not an ethnic or religious war. Boko Haram is a clear madness that must be condemned by all Nigerians," the governor said. The governor made the clarification while on a sympathy visit to the traditional ruler of Gwoza, Idrissa Timta. The sect was reported to have killed 106 people at Izge village in Gwoza Local government area of Borno on Saturday night. It is reported that the attack came three days after gunmen attacked the same village and killed nine soldiers in a broad day shootout. The Boko Haram sect has also carried out another attack on villagers in Doron-Baga in Kukawa local government area of the state on the same night. The attackers were said to have worn military fatigues. Shettima said Nigerians should see the Boko Haram sect as a common enemy rather than a religious group going by its destruction. He appealed to the federal government to explore new security avenues to tackle the Boko Haram attacks, as they had sophisticated weapons and were motivated by their backers to continue the destruction of lives and properties in the area. Borno State, one of the three northeastern states in Nigeria under an emergency rule, is the headquarters of Boko Haram, a sect which has killed thousands of local and foreign citizens in its four-and-half years of insurgency in the West African country. Last year, the U.S. government named Boko Haram and Ansaru, a splinter group, as foreign terrorist groups, with an aim to join the Nigerian government to curtail the activities of the sect.