Islamic militants claim Nigerian attack that killed 15

Islamic militants claim Nigerian attack that killed 15

Militants, claiming to be loyal to the Islamic State, have claimed responsibility for a twin-bomb attack that killed 15 people and injured 41 others in Nigerian economic capital of Abuja.

Through twitter, the militants said that they had carried out the attack in the West African country that has been facing a major security threat from the Boko Haram militants.

The militants said they carried out the suicide attacks on two suburbs of Abuja. The first bomb went off near a police station in the satellite town of Kuje, which is not far from the capital’s airport, while the second one was in the suburb of Nyanya.

The authenticity of the statement, which did not mention Boko Haram, issued under the Islamic State West Africa, could not be independently verified.

President Muhammadu Buhari had blamed Boko Haram for the Abuja attack which has waged a six-year campaign to carve out an Islamist State in the country’s northeastern part since 2009, killing thousands and displacing over two million others.

The statement named three suicide bombers who it believed were behind the attacks.

In May, the leader of the Islamic State militant group that controls parts of Syria and Iraq had accepted a pledge of allegiance from Boko Haram.

The extent of cooperation between the two groups is not known.

Islamic State, an ultra-hard-line offshoot of Al Qaeda, has declared a caliphate, which is state governed in accordance with Islamic law in a captured territory in Iraq and Syria.

The militants have gained global notoriety for killing or kidnapping members of ethnic and religious minorities and posting videos of its members killing Arab and Western hostages.

Since losing most of the territory it took over earlier this year, it has reverted to hitting soft targets such as markets, bus stations and places of worship as well as hit-and-run attacks on villages, mainly in northeastern Borno state.

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Islamic state AL QAEDA SUICIDE BOMBERS kuje nigeria bombing

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