Security - A group suspected to be a breakaway faction of the Islamic sect Boko Haram on Sunday claimed responsibility for the previous day's attack on a military convoy that killed two soldiers and injured four others, part of Nigeria's contingent to Mali.
The Jama'atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis-Sudan, better known as Ansaru, made the claim in a statement it sent to the Nigerian online newspaper Desert Herald.
It said the attack, at Itape in central Kogi State, was its 'first attempt in (stopping) the Nigerian army troops that were aim to demolish the Islamic empire of Mali, in reference to the report that the soldiers were among those to be deployed to Mali as part of the over 1 battalion of troops that Nigeria has pledged to contribute
'We are equipped and waiting for any slightest attempt of Nigerian army, moving towards the Islamic empire of Mali. And we are warning the African countries to (stop) their effort for helping Western countries in fighting against Islam and Muslim,' the group said, while warning of more attacks.
Ansaru also claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a French citizen in northern Nigeria last month.
Pana 20/01/2013