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| Ansaru, the Islamist group behind foreign hostage killings in Nigeria | Ansaru, the Islamist group behind foreign hostage killings in Nigeria |
| (8 days later) | |
| The terror group Jama'atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis-Sudan, known as Ansaru, is a splinter from the larger Islamist group Boko Haram, which has killed over 1,500 people killed since 2009. | The terror group Jama'atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis-Sudan, known as Ansaru, is a splinter from the larger Islamist group Boko Haram, which has killed over 1,500 people killed since 2009. |
| Led by the little-known Abu Ussamata al-Ansary, "the Vanguard for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa" was formed after a disagreement with Boko Haram at the tactic of killing fellow Muslims. | Led by the little-known Abu Ussamata al-Ansary, "the Vanguard for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa" was formed after a disagreement with Boko Haram at the tactic of killing fellow Muslims. |
| While Boko Haram ("western education is a sin" in Hausa) has aimed to destabilise the government of Christian southerner Goodluck Jonathan by undermining his ability to guarantee the security of Africa's most populous nation, Ansaru appears determined to drag foreign governments into an otherwise domestic conflict by kidnapping and killing foreigners, according to Sola Tayo, an associate fellow at the Chatham House thinktank. | While Boko Haram ("western education is a sin" in Hausa) has aimed to destabilise the government of Christian southerner Goodluck Jonathan by undermining his ability to guarantee the security of Africa's most populous nation, Ansaru appears determined to drag foreign governments into an otherwise domestic conflict by kidnapping and killing foreigners, according to Sola Tayo, an associate fellow at the Chatham House thinktank. |
| "This is the biggest and most shocking attack yet on foreigners by Muslim militants in Nigeria," she said. "It's timing is very significant because it comes just after Goodluck Jonathan declared there is no way he could offer any amnesty to these groups. This will bring international pressure on the president because one of the only things preventing people talking about Nigeria as the next Afghanistan has been the fact that the majority of people killed have been Nigerian." | "This is the biggest and most shocking attack yet on foreigners by Muslim militants in Nigeria," she said. "It's timing is very significant because it comes just after Goodluck Jonathan declared there is no way he could offer any amnesty to these groups. This will bring international pressure on the president because one of the only things preventing people talking about Nigeria as the next Afghanistan has been the fact that the majority of people killed have been Nigerian." |
| Boko Haram has focused on targeting police and security agents and Christians and Muslims working for or accused of co-operating with the government. It has bombed newspaper offices and the United Nations building in the capital, Abuja, attacked beer halls, robbed banks and burned down schools. | Boko Haram has focused on targeting police and security agents and Christians and Muslims working for or accused of co-operating with the government. It has bombed newspaper offices and the United Nations building in the capital, Abuja, attacked beer halls, robbed banks and burned down schools. |
| Tayo said there is not yet proof that Boko Haram or Ansaru is a full-blown franchise of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has been fighting to take control of Mali, but she said the organisations are in contact and that the prime minister of Niger has said there have been Nigerian militants training with AQIM in Niger. | Tayo said there is not yet proof that Boko Haram or Ansaru is a full-blown franchise of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has been fighting to take control of Mali, but she said the organisations are in contact and that the prime minister of Niger has said there have been Nigerian militants training with AQIM in Niger. |
| The Home Office has proscribed the group as a terrorist organisation "broadly aligned with al-Qaida". | The Home Office has proscribed the group as a terrorist organisation "broadly aligned with al-Qaida". |
| Ansaru was behind the 2011 kidnapping of British construction worker Christopher McManus, 28 and his Italian colleague Franco Lamolinara, 47, while they were working on a central bank building project in Bernin Kebbi, northern Nigeria. In a hostage video McManus asked the UK government "to meet the demands of al-Qaida". The two men were executed by their captors during a failed rescue mission involving British special forces in February last year. | Ansaru was behind the 2011 kidnapping of British construction worker Christopher McManus, 28 and his Italian colleague Franco Lamolinara, 47, while they were working on a central bank building project in Bernin Kebbi, northern Nigeria. In a hostage video McManus asked the UK government "to meet the demands of al-Qaida". The two men were executed by their captors during a failed rescue mission involving British special forces in February last year. |
| The group also abducted French national Francis Colump, 63, in December last year after a dynamite attack on a well-guarded compound. | The group also abducted French national Francis Colump, 63, in December last year after a dynamite attack on a well-guarded compound. |
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