DAKAR, Senegal – A Nigerian terrorist group has executed five men, three of them aid workers, who disappeared while providing assistance in the north-eastern state of Borno last month. A video appeared Wednesday that shows the men kneeling and blindfolded. Then they were shot.
The West African country, Nigeria, has suffered more than 10 years of kidnappings, killings and other abuses by armed Islamic groups, but regional governments have cracked down on insurgents, claiming to have killed thousands.
A group allied with the Islamic State, the Islamic State West African Province, or ISWAP, is believed to be behind the executions of the five men, all Nigerians.
The men had been traveling between Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, the Nigerian region most affected by the terrorist attacks, and the city of Monguno when they were kidnapped. Local media reported that they were humanitarian workers with Action Against Hunger and the International Rescue Committee. One worked for the Nigerian State Emergency Management Agency.
Terrorist groups in northeast Nigeria are often known by the general name Boko Haram, the nickname for the original group that took up arms in 2009, of which ISWAP is a dissident group. Unlike the original Boko Haram, ISWAP initially primarily targeted Christians, people affiliated with the state, and employees of international aid organizations. More recently, it has also started killing other Muslims, some analysts said. The group frequently kidnaps and executes humanitarian workers after trying to obtain ransoms.
For the past decade, northeastern Nigeria has been destabilized by gunmen who preach radicalism who gained strength by voicing their complaints against the state. They pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2015, before splitting into various groups. Since then, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, raped, kidnapped, and tortured.
President Muhammadu Buhari promised to crush the terrorists and return peace to the northeast, but the attacks continued and national forces were accused of abuses that perpetuate the crisis.
The insurgency was subdued in Buhari’s first term, analysts say, but has recently recovered.
The day before the execution video appeared, Nigerian lawmakers, concerned about soldiers leaving the army in large numbers, called on the country’s security chiefs to resign, according to local media.
The humanitarian workers killed were Ishaku Yakubu, an Action Against Hunger employee, Abdulrahman Dungus, who worked for an affiliate of the French Technical Cooperation and Development Agency, and Luka Filibus, child protection officer of the aid group International Committee for Rescue. Joseph Prince, a security worker, and Abdulrahman Bulama, an IDP camp coordinator working for the Nigerian state, were also shot.
In a video posted in June, Mr. Filibus appealed to his employer to save him. He was a former IDP himself.
“Luka and his family were forced to flee their home, and he was still forced to alleviate the suffering of the children,” the aid group said in a statement after the execution video came out. “He dedicated his life to protecting children and helping to lessen their trauma from the crisis. His colleagues in Nigeria always remember him with a smile on his face. “
Ismail Alfa contributed reporting from Maiduguri, Nigeria.
