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Journalism of Courage
A radical Muslim sect reponsible for attacks that left more than 100 people dead in northeast Nigeria this week could bomb three luxury hotels frequented by foreigners in the oil-rich nations capital,the US Embassy warned Sunday.
The unusually specific warning from US diplomats identified possible targets of the sect known locally as Boko Haram as the Hilton,Nicon Luxury and Sheraton hotels. Those hotels draw diplomats,politicians and Nigerias business elite daily in the countrys central capital of Abuja.
The embassy said the attack may come as Nigeria celebrates the Muslim holiday Eid ul-Azha and that its diplomats and staff had been instructed to avoid those hotels. Deb MacLean,an embassy spokeswoman,declined to offer further details about the threat or source of the information Sunday.
The warning came as a Nigerian Red Cross official said Sunday that more than 100 died in a series of attacks in northeast Nigeria launched by the radical Muslim sect,as sect gunmen shot and killed another police officer.
Ibrahim Bulama said he expected the number of dead to rise as local clinics and hospitals tabulate the casualty figures from the attacks late Friday in Damaturu,the capital of rural Yobe state.
While the hard-hit city remained calm army and police units manned roadblocks leading into the town and streets remained largely quiet,Bulama said.
Meanwhile,Boko Haram killed a police inspector Sunday in the city of Maiduguri,the sects spiritual home about 130 km east of Damaturu. Sect gunmen stopped the officers car at gunpoint as he neared a mosque to pray with his family,local police commissioner Simeon Midenda said. Gunmen ordered the family away,then shot the inspector to death,Midenda said.
The killing prompted a frank acknowledgment from the police commander. Our men who live in the midst of the Boko Haram are not safe, Midenda said. Boko Haram wants to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria which has a predominantly Christian south and a Muslim north.
