Bans burqa
Chadian police says anyone caught wearing a full-face veil will be arrested. Police:
This attack just confirms that a ban on the full-face veil was justified, adding that, it now must be respected more than ever by the entire population. Anyone who does not obey the law will be automatically arrested and brought to justice,
Suicide bomber kills 15
A man dressed in a burqa blows himself up in the main market of the capital N’Djamena, killing 15 people and injuring 80. No group claims responsibility, but Chad blames Boko Haram. Police:
The suicide bomber was a man disguised in a burqa. He tried to enter the market when he was intercepted by police. That is when he detonated the bomb.
First beheading video
Boko Haram releases its first video of a beheading. The ten minute-long video begins with exchange machine gun fire and heavy mortar fire against Nigerian troops. It shows group members standing next to the corpses of scorched Nigerian troops – and showing off their security badges to the camera. The video ends with the murder of a captured African Union soldier. The man kneels in front of three masked Boko Haram members – two of whom point AK47s at his head. The video then cuts to reveal his decapitated body lying motionless on the floor.
We announce to you to the good news of the expansion of the caliphate to West Africa. Our caliph has accepted the pledge of loyalty of our brothers of Boko Haram so we congratulate Muslims and our jihadi brothers in West Africa.
13-year-old suicide bomber killed
A girl aged about 13 is killed when explosives strapped to her body goes off near a major mosque in northern Nigeria’s largest city Kano. No one else is caught up in the blast. Police:
She blew up killing herself. Nobody else was hurt in the incident, It’s very likely the mosque was her target, but the explosives went off prematurely.
Condemns attacks
President Buhari condemns the latest terrorist attacks by the Boko Haram terrorists describing them as enemies of everybody. He also vows to hunt down the militants to the last man. The President says he is deeply touched by these mindless incidents of violence on innocent people during the month of Ramadan.
Make no mistake about it: this government is ever determined to discharge its fundamental duty of protecting the lives of its citizens from physical threats from any groups bent on creating chaos, confusion, and on destroying social and economic life of the people.
$7million bounty
The Justice Department declares Shekau wanted and places a $7m bounty on his head.
Abubakar Shekau is the leader of Jama’atu Ahl as-Sunnah il-Da’awati wal-Jihad, more commonly known as Boko Haram…There are reported communications, training, and weapons links between Boko Haram, al-Qaida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Shabaab, and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which may strengthen Boko Haram’s capacity to conduct terrorist attacks.
Shekau was previously the group’s second-in-command. In July 2010, Shekau publicly claimed leadership of Boko Haram and threatened to attack Western interests in Nigeria. Later that month, Shekau issued a second statement expressing solidarity with al-Qaida and threatening the United States. Under Shekau’s leadership, Boko Haram’s operational capabilities have grown.
Girls and women rescued
Nigeria’s military says it is moving 200 girls and 93 women from a northeastern forest where they were rescued from Boko Haram extremists. The army says many are traumatized and that military will fly in medical and intelligence teams to establish their psychological and physical health. They started evacuating them from the Sambisa Forest but would not say to where. Military operations continue in the forest, while troops destroy four Boko Haram camps. Sources say Boko Haram used some of the women as armed human shields, a first line of defense who fired at troops.
Changes name
Boko Haram adopts the name ‘Islamic State’s West Africa Province’ (ISWAP). Propaganda materials shared by ISIS-affiliated social media accounts have dropped both it’s official name, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (Arabic for ‘People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad’), and nickname Boko Haram, which means ‘western education is forbidden’ in favor of ISWAP,, and appear to share the production values and style more usually associated with jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
Pledges allegiance to ISIS
Boko Haram pledges allegiance to ISIS. In an audio message posted online, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau:
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
Baga massacre
The group carries out series of mass killings in Nigerian town of Baga and surrounding areas. Over 2,000 people are killed. Muhammad Abba Gava, a civilian defense group spokesman:
The human carnage perpetrated by Boko Haram terrorists in Baga was enormous. No one could attend to the corpses and even the seriously injured ones who may have died by now.
‘Third world war’
Pope Francis says that conflicts around the globe represent a third World War. During a Mass held at Italy’s largest war memorial, a Fascist-era monument where 100,000 soldiers who died in World War One are buried, the pontiff appears to be referring to the recent conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Gaza, Ukraine and Africa. The homily:
Humanity needs to weep and this is the time to weep … War is madness. Even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction … War is irrational; its only plan is to bring destruction: it seeks to grow by destroying. Greed, intolerance, the lust for power. These motives underlie the decision to go to war and they are too often justified by an ideology.
Kills ‘over 100 militants’
Cameroon government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary says in a statement broadcast on national radio that the Cameroonian army has killed more than 100 Boko Haram fighters seeking to infiltrate the town of Fotokol on the northern tip of the country. The town is separated from the Boko Haram-held Nigerian border town of Gamboru Ngala only by a bridge. In what he describes as a ‘severe setback’ to the Nigeria-based militant group, he says Boko Haram fired two shells into Fotokol around 1 p.m. (0800 EDT):
There were no casualties reported on the Cameroonian side after the attack. Our defence forces responded vigorously with mortar fire aimed at the positions held by units of the Boko Haram terrorist group that was behind the attack. The Cameroonian response resulted in over 100 deaths among the aggressors.
Escape from captors
The 62 women and girls who were kidnapped in Nigeria last month escape from Boko Haram militants. The women were able to escape when their captors left the camp to attack military and police in Damboa. Bukar Kyari, a local vigilante fighting Boko Haram in Maiduguri, says:
The women seized that rare opportunity to escape when they realized they were alone in the camp. But we still have five women, including a nursing mother, missing.
This group is believed to still be holding 200 missing schoolgirls that were abducted 80 days ago in Chibok.
Nigerian villagers kill members
Members of a Nigerian village kill dozens of people they suspect to be Boko Haram members planning a new attack on their village. The villagers take control of two trucks they believe to be carrying Boko Haram members, detaining ten people and killing at least 41 alleged Boko Haram fighters.
Seven members killed, three arrested
A team of vigilantes kills seven members and arrests another three near the town of Damboa in Borno State near the Chad border. Bags confiscated from sect members contain AK-47s.