The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for Friday’s bomb attacks in Kuje and Nyanya, two suburbs of Nigeria’s capital city, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Abuja, which killed at least 20 people and injured over 30 others.
The Jihadist group, in a message in Arabic, said three suicide bombers executed the deadly attacks. IS said they had conducted the suicide bombings, according to the statement. The authenticity of the statement, which did not mention Boko Haram and was issued under the name Islamic State West Africa, could not be verified. It named three suicide bombers who it said were behind the attacks, the statement said.
The claim was released by the group in an Arabic message which was tweeted by Radio France International correspondent in Tunisia / Libya, David Thompson.
The Islamic State (IS), also known as “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS) or “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL) is a jihadist extremist militant group and self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate led by and composed mostly of Sunni Arabs from Iraq and Syria.
On 29 June 2014, the group proclaimed itself to be a worldwide caliphate, with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi named its caliph and renamed itself the “Islamic State” (IS)). As a caliphate, it claims religious, political social and military authority over all Muslims worldwide, and that “the legality of all emirates, groups, states, and organisations, become null by the expansion of the caliphate’s authority and arrival of its troops to their areas”
In March 2015 the Maiduguri, Borno state of Nigeria birthed Boko Haram Jihadist group joined IS – when its leader, Abubakar Shekau, announced through a spokesman (via an audio recording posted online) to the chagrin of the Nigerian government and military that Boko Haram has paid obeisance, aligned itself and finally pledged its allegiance to IS. Shortly afterwards, the IS leadership acclaimed the Nigerian-based Boko Haram allegiance.
Boko Haram’s pledge of allegiance to IS was reported as follows: “The Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, had posted an audio recording online that pledged allegiance to IS. On Thursday, the Islamic State group’s media arm Al-Furqan, in an audio recording by spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, said that Boko Haram’s pledge of allegiance has been accepted, claiming the caliphate has now expanded to West Africa. Al-Adnani had urged foreign fighters from around the world to migrate and join Boko Haram in the northeast of Nigeria.
In his allegiance message to IS on behalf of the Boko Haram, Shekau had announced: “We announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims … and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity, in hardship and ease, and to endure being discriminated against, and not to dispute about rule with those in power, except in case of evident infidelity regarding that which there is a proof from Allah”
