Nigeria: Boko Haram Islamist attacks expected to cease after Ramadan

Multiple clashes between security forces and suspected members of a radical Islamist sect (Boko Haram) in northern Nigeria have left four policemen, four civilians and 19 militants dead, authorities said Wednesday, as the feared sect continues to widen the scope of its attacks.

Suspected Boko Haram members and Nigerian security forces had clashed early this week in the northeastern city of Damaturu. The police and army had fought back after Boko Haram sect members struck six churches, five primary schools, a police station and a police outpost across the city, authorities said.

Nigeria National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki on Friday at a stakeholders meeting in Maiduguri, said he hopes to end the attacks by Boko Haram before the Ramadan fast.

Retired colonel Dasuki who was appointed a week earlier has been meeting with religious and traditional leaders in the Northern part of Nigeria in a bid to put an end to the incessant attacks by the Boko Haram group.

Earlier in the year Nigeria President Jonathan had said that the Boko Haram menace will end in June, but recent indications show that there has been a change in plan.

The fasting period is likely to begin July 20, giving Dasuki less than a month, to tackle a sect that has caused the death of over 1000 people since 2009.

The insurgency of Boko Haram which has lead to bombings, gunfights with security agents and assassinations, worries the international community which has been affected by the surging violence in the North. The U.S. in tackling the problem put three prominent members of Boko Haram on its terrorist watch list.

The Boko Haram challenge has affected business in the Northern part of Nigeria, as companies and traders have either suspended activities or moved base. All this has been done in a bid to avoid the stemming violence.