The spotlight shined on Boko Haram's incredible cruelty last week, which was exemplified in the school dorm massacre that took the lives of several children, but seems to have only stoked the group's interest and boldness.
Instead of hiding, the leader of Boko Haram, has called for more and even more horrific attacks on school children.
This kind of rhethoric, which claims Islamic tenets or text interpretation to justify these kind of terrorist crimes is what causes the most backlash against Muslim believers. By invoking a 'religious' belief to justify killing children, the group not only perverts the religion it claims to be faithful to, but also shows how the madness of their belief cannot be cured nor stopped except with the most forceful of measures.
The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, not only exhorted its members to attack more children, but that schools will "continue to be a target until our last breath." This statement is not bluster. It should be taken at face value.
In the same breath as his exhortation to murder, the leader also inexplicably denies that it was his men who conducted the horrific night raid that killed and burned many children last week. He also cites religion as the reason why his men would not kill.
Just last week however, Nigeria's government had related news of detente deal with Boko Haram, by signing some sort of secret agreement that would have seen a ceasefire between the terrorist group and the Nigerian troops. The leader of Boko Haram has also denied the existance of such a deal.
Boko Haram targets schools for two reasons: the first is that they represent a form of westernization, and the second is that schooled children are not good candidates for the sort of recruitment that Boko Haram does with very young children. Ignorance is a must, if they are to instill their kind of twisted doctrine.
Furthemore, Boko Haram often kidnaps male children at will to begin indoctrination and turn them into small soldiers at an early age.
In many small cities, vigilante groups are staying up at night, armed with machetes, but they are too inexperienced to really offer any deterrence to Boko Haram, who are hardened fanatics spending most of their time training. In addition, these possies often make the work of soldier of police harder, because they interfere with law enforcement.
Source : The Guardian/ 7.15.13
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