LAGOS: Nigeria's Boko Haram – a militant Islamic group – leader on Wednesday said the continued attacks against the country's Christian population in the northern part of the country were “justified.” His statements came less than 24 hours after a mosque attack continued the violence in the country that began on Christmas Day, when the Boko Haram attacked a church, killing dozens. The Nigerian Red Cross said on Wednesday that some 8,000 people have been displaced in the continued violence in the country. The video, posted on YouTube, shows Abubakar Shekau sitting against a green camouflage background, dressed in a traditional scarf and bullet-proof vest. “The government will not defeat Boko Haram,” he says in the video. “The attacks are justified.” Nigeria's south is heavily Christian while the north is heavily Muslim. Tensions between the two regions have been on the rise in the wake of recent attacks by radical Islamist group Boko Haram on Christians in the north. The displaced after Tuesday's attack are mainly Muslims from Nigeria's northern states who have settled in the south. They have sought refuge in police stations, military barracks and the city's royal palace – a 13th-century UNESCO heritage site. One Christian man told Bikyamasr.com that fear is on the rise and he does not know when calm would return to the country. “I just don't know what is going to happen. My family and all our friends, many of them are Muslims, are scared for our lives,” said the man, who said his name was Jonathan. Attacks on places of worship in Nigeria have claimed at least 50 lives since Christmas Day, when a coordinated spate of bombings targeted churches around the country. Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day blasts. Nobody has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's mosque attack, nor for a blast at a bar in Yobe that killed eight people, also Tuesday night. ** with dpa BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/Blrf0 Tags: Boko Haram, Christians, featured, Muslims, Nigeria Section: Latest News, Religion, West Africa
