4th August Nigerian SITREP (General)

IMPORTANT

Nigerian Army alleges that explosives used by female suicide bombers in recent bomb attacks in Kano have been analysed and traced to a Chinese-run quarry in Yobe State of Northeast Nigeria that was overrun and seized by Boki Haram fighters last year.

However, none of the recent bombings involving female suicide bombers have been claimed by any of the Boko Haram groups.

Also sources in the Harakatul-Muhajiriin and its parent Ansorul-Muslimiin, have made it absolutely clear that they have nothing to do with the spate of female suicide bombers that terrorised Kano recently, they say they find the use of girls and women as suicide bombers reprehensible and they condemn it in its entirety as a "cowardly and desperate act that goes against the teachings of the Sheikh Muhammad Yusuf and the principles of Jihad Fii Sabilillah".

31st July: 10 year old girl wearing an explosive vest is arrested in Katsina State along with her handler who is a 19 year old female and a man driving a luxury SUV (Range Rover Sport) that brought the vest to the roadside where the 10 year old and her handler were waiting. More on that in a subsequent article In Shaa Allah.

Kano is hit by a fourth female suicide bomber in a week.

30th July: US Peace Corps evacuates volunteers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea over Ebola fears, as West African leaders announce a joint $100million fund to tackle outbreak.

3rd August: Cholera kills several people from Borno State at a camp for displaced persons displaced by the ongoing combined Borno Haram offensive in the Damboa area. The camp for IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) is in Biu LGA where Jamaa'atu Ahlis-Sunnah of Sheikh Bukar Al-Barnawi holds sway.

Nigeria's Federal Government claims to have raised N60billion or $480million at a rich-only banquet/fundraiser for the Victims of Terror Support Fund launched by President Jonathan in Abuja recently. Critics slam the whole exercise as a parade of who is who in corruption in Nigeria, especially as Governor Rocha's Okorocha of IMO State was forced to cancel his earlier pledge of N10million or $55,000 and donate $10million or N1.67billion by President Jonathan, despite that this huge sum was not included in IMO State's budget for the year, nor was it approved by lawmakers in the state.

Nigerian Shia leader Sheikh Ibrahim Az-Zakzaki(Zakzaky) announces that rather than immediately resort to violence which may lead to fatal consequences for the country, he and his followers will first seek redress in court for the murder of his sons and dozens of his followers by the Nigerian military.

Cameroon's president, Paul Biya, dispatches his military chief to the Far North Region to along with more troops to stabilize the situation in that area with regard to the threat from Boko Haram (Harakatul-Muhajiriin and Ansorul-Muslimiin are the groups operating in that region).