A new radical Islamist sect, Ansaru, on Sunday
claimed responsibility for the recent kidnapping of a French national in
Katsina.
The group cited France’s push for military
intervention in Mali as a justification, accordint to AFP.
A statement by the group said, “Ansaru announces
to the world, especially the French government, that it was responsible for the
abduction of engineer Francis Colump, 63, working for the French company
Vergnet.”
Wednesday last week, about 30 gunmen stormed
Vergnet’s residence in Katsina State, where the alternative energy firm has a
wind power project.
“The reason for his kidnap is the stance of the
French government and the French people on Islam,” said the statement written
in Hausa.
The group specifically pointed to “France’s major
role in the (planned) attack on the Islamic state in northern Mali.”
It also cited France’s “law outlawing the use of
Islamic veil by Muslim women.”
Paris has backed plans to deploy a west African
force in northern Mali to flush out the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist groups who
took control of the vast desert territory earlier this year.
“We inform the French government that this group
will continue launching attacks on the French government and French citizens …
as long as it does not change its stance on these two issues,” the Ansaru
statement said.
The police chief in Katsina, Abdullahi Magaji,
told AFP that there were indications that former or current employees of
Vergnet had been involved, arguing that the attack appeared to be “an inside
job.
Ansaru is less well known than Islamist group
Boko Haram, which is waging a deadly insurgency in the North since 2009.
The two groups are known to have ties but are
seen as independent.
In November, Britain’s interior ministry
identified Ansaru as a “Nigeria-based terrorist organisation” and declared
membership or support for it illegal.
The group’s full name, Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina
fi Biladis Sudan, is roughly translated as Vanguards for the aid of Muslims in
black Africa.
No comments:
Post a Comment