ISIS extremists have ruthlessly executed 20 Christians in Nigeria in a bloodthirsty killing spree “to avenge the assassination of the group’s leaders in the Middle East”.
The terrorist group released footage of the ruthless killings, which showed the masked fanatics with knives and guns standing behind their kneeling victims.
The militants carried out the merciless executions in Borno state, where rival Islamist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP) have been kidnapping, looting and killing on a massive scale.
ISIS extremists have ruthlessly executed 20 Christians in Nigeria in a bloodthirsty killing spree “to avenge the assassination of the group’s leaders in the Middle East” (pictured).
Footage of the recent massacre shows one of the executioners saying in Hausa that the killings were in response to the death of IS in the Middle East earlier this year.
Published on a terrorist-related source, it shows three groups of prisoners in civilian clothes.
It comes after Islamic rebels killed at least seven people in an attack in northeast Borno last week.
The rebels attacked the village of Kautukari in the Chibok region at the same time that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in state to meet with survivors of jihadist violence.
The Chibok area is 70 miles from Maiduguri, the state capital, where Guterres met with former militants who were being reintegrated into society and with thousands of people displaced by the insurgents.
Boko Haram and ISWAP were originally allied, but the groups splintered in 2016 and are now considered rivals
“They came in large numbers with superior firepower (and) took over the community,” said Hassan Chibok, a community leader.
Troops from a nearby military base were deployed to repel the attack, but “the damage was done,” Chibok said, adding that “there have been up to 10 casualties.”
Another resident, Yana Galang, said at least seven people were killed in the recent violence before the Nigerian military intervened.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with 206 million people, continues to struggle with a 10-year-old insurgency in the northeast by Islamic extremist rebels Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State of West Africa province.
The extremists are fighting for the introduction of Sharia law and against Western education.
According to the UN Development Programme, more than 35,000 people have died and millions have been displaced as a result of extremist violence.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said last week that the war against the extremists “is nearing its end,” citing continued military airstrikes and the mass exodus of thousands of fighters, some of whom analysts say are laying down their arms over power struggles within the jihadi group.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is introduced to Borno state officials during a visit last week
However, violence continues in border communities and areas closer to the Lake Chad region, the stronghold of ISWAP.
“Things are getting worse in Kautukari village in Chibok and the adjacent areas closer to the forest,” Chibok community leader said, saying the extremists’ presence near the forest was a contributing factor.
The global coalition against ISIS gathered in Morocco today to coordinate efforts to prevent a jihadist revival in the Middle East and North Africa.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to co-host the meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, but Washington’s top diplomat tested positive for Covid-19 and was replaced by senior diplomat Victoria Nuland.
Senior officials from dozens of other countries are also attending the meeting, which is being held under high security at a discreet luxury hotel in Marrakech.
Discussions should include “stabilization efforts in areas previously affected by Daesh,” strategic communication against the group’s “radicalization propaganda” and the fight against foreign fighters, Morocco’s foreign ministry said.
The meeting comes three years after the coalition helped Syrian fighters crush the “caliphate” proclaimed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria and after the jihadists stepped up efforts to expand their presence in the Sahel and West Africa to strengthen.
The Global Coalition Against Daesh (an Arabic acronym for ISIS) was formed in 2014 after militants seized vast swathes of Iraq and Syria, and now includes 84 states and international organizations.
Officials have long warned that despite losing a territorial base, IS remains a global threat.
ISIS has vowed to exact revenge for its elusive leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in a US attack in northern Syria in late 2019.
She has also urged her supporters to use the war in Ukraine to launch attacks in Europe.