Monday, March 11, 2013

Italy, Britain, Greece confirm murder of hostages •Nigeria uncertain over reported deaths •We can’t confirm yet —Bauchi police

ITALIAN, British and Greek governments have confirmed that hostages from their countries were among seven construction workers reported killed in Nigeria by Islamist militant group, Ansaru, at the weekend.
The hostages from Italy, Britain, Greece and Lebanon, were captured in a raid on a construction site in Bauchi State.
The Greek foreign ministry said it believes its national is dead.
“This was an act of cold-blooded murder, which I condemn in the strongest terms,” British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said in a statement announcing that a British construction worker was among the dead.
An Italian foreign ministry statement said: “Our checks conducted in co-ordination with the other countries concerned led us to believe that the news of the killing of the hostages seized last month is true.”
The Greek foreign ministry said: “The information we have shows that the Greek citizen is dead,” adding that the ministry had informed his family.
Lebanon declined to comment.
However, Nigerian authorities said on Sunday they still had no information on any such killing, and on Saturday they doubted the veracity of the group’s statement.
Reports from official circles indicated that government was unsure they have actually been killed.
Sources close to the administration confirmed that government has so far not spoken on the matter because of the uncertainty.
It was learnt that the government wanted to clear whether the radical sect has actually killed all captives or was issuing the statement to call attention to itself.
A source told the Nigerian Tribune that “What we understand is that three of the captives had medical conditions. One was hypertensive, one had an operation recently and one has a heart condition.
“Government made efforts to get medical attention to the three but their abductors rejected the bid. We believe that if there are casualties, it could be through the mismanagement of the conditions of the three who have health issues. The others may still be alive.”
Further details obtained from sources close to government gave identities of the sick hostages.
The officials gave the name of one of the sick as the Italian, Silvano Trevisan. He was said to have heart problems and another ailment described as blood artherious hypertensions. It was also learnt that a joint operation has also identified one of the sick hostages as Brendan Vaughan. He was said to be diabetic. The name of the third sick hostage was not given.
The Greeks and Italians both said there had been no attempt by any government forces to free them.
“We have launched a full investigation to find out what has really happened, but for now we really cannot say whether this report is true or not,” police spokesman for Bauchi State Hassan Mohammed Auyo told Reuters by telephone.
In an online statement posted on Saturday, the militant group Ansaru said it had killed the captives.
The group, which emerged last year, is suspected of being an offshoot of the Boko Haram Islamist network.
Ansaru said the hostages were killed because of a rescue attempt by British and Nigerian forces.
But in its statement, the Italian government said: “There was never any military attempt to rescue the hostages by any of the governments concerned.”
It added that the group’s actions “can have no explanation other than blind and barbaric violence.”
The seven hostages were seized in a raid from a site belonging to the Setraco Construction Company. It resulted in the death of a guard.
Ansaru said it had carried out the attack in revenge for what it called atrocities by European nations against Islam.
The group, formed in January 2012, has been listed by the UK government as a “terrorist organisation” aligned with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
It abducted French national Francis Colump in December in an attack on a compound in the northern town of Rimi.
In January Ansaru said it had carried out an attack that killed two Nigerian soldiers as they prepared to deploy to neighbouring Mali, where French troops have been fighting Islamic militants.
Ansaru declared itself a separate group from the main Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram in January, although security officials believe them to be closely linked.
Its full name is Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan or “vanguards for the protection of Muslims in Black Africa”.
Ansaru was suspected of being behind the killing of a British and Italian hostage a year ago in northwest Nigeria, and Britain’s parliament has labeled it a terrorist organization.
It also claimed responsibility for the kidnapping in December of a French national, still missing.
Nigerian authorities are still looking for a French family of seven kidnapped in northern Cameroon and moved over the border by militants who said they were from Boko Haram.
French intervention in Mali has heightened the risk to Western interests in Nigeria, analysts said, and French oil major Total moved its staff from the Nigerian capital Abuja, where Boko Haram also operate, in January.
Also, the Bauchi State Police Command has said that there is no evidence to show that they have truly been killed.
Reacting to the reports, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Hassan Mohammed Auyo, told journalists in Bauchi that the police were still investigating the kidnap saga, saying that there was no evidence before the police to show that they had been killed.
According to Auyo, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), “Police do not have any evidence that the kidnapped expatriates have been killed.
We are still investigating the matter. We are also investigating the genuineness of the information posted on website allegedly by the group.”
A reliable top security source, who always wants not to be named, told journalists in Bauchi that security operatives had also heard about the rumour of the alleged killing of the expatriates, assuring that security agencies in the state were still monitoring the situation with a view to reacting appropriately.
Gunmen kill 4
Meanwhile, gunmen killed four people in Hadejia, Hotoro and Dakata areas of Kano, on Sunday just as securitymen arrested four of the perpetrators of the murder.
However, security as of the time of filing this report was yet to confirm the death, but a source within the security circle confirmed the killing. The source who preferred anonymity said the gunmen riding on a tricycle opened fire on their victims. The incident which caused pandemonium forced residents of the area to stay indoors.  However the Joints Task Force (JTF) spokesman Captain Ikedichi Iwehia, could not be reached by phone, but a source within security circle confirmed the attack and the arrest.
 Tribune

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