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Nigeria: 7 killed in newspaper office bombings Boko Haram claims responsibility
President Goodluck Jonathan also condemned the attack as “ignoble, misguided, horrendous and wicked.”
The government will “continue to uphold the constitutional right to freedom of express in general and press freedom in particular,” a statement from Jonathan’s office read. “Criminal elements bent on instilling fear in the minds of Nigerians and foreigners will not succeed.”
Diplomats and military officials say Boko Haram has links with two other al-Qaida-aligned terrorist groups in Africa. Members of the sect also reportedly have been spotted in northern Mali which Tuareg rebels and hardline Islamists seized control of over the past month.
Violence, both blamed on the sect and not, continued unstopped this week across Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north. Authorities said gunmen killed two police officers overnight Thursday in Gombe state, while assailants killed three people Tuesday night at a bar in Yobe state. Police also blamed Boko Haram members for shooting to death a retired government worker in Maiduguri. Late Thursday night, gunfire and explosions could be heard in Gombe, the state capital of Gombe state, but authorities did not immediately answer calls for comment.
Attacks against journalists also remain common in Nigeria, a country of more than 160 million where corruption pervades government and business. In January, Boko Haram gunmen shot and killed a journalist with private network Channels Television during an attack on the northern city of Kano that killed at least 185 people.
“It confirms our fears the media is not safe,” said Mohammed Garba, president of the Nigeria Union of Journalists. “Journalists are not safe.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
