Suspected radical Muslim sect members in Nigeria charged over bombings, attacks that killed 25

Eight suspected members of a radical Muslim sect were charged Tuesday with taking part in bombings and attacks around Nigeria’s capital that killed at least 25 people, including 16 in an explosion at an election office.

Prosecutors allege the eight suspects belong to the sect known locally as Boko Haram, which campaigns for the strict implementation of Shariah law in Nigeria. The group claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 car bombing at the United Nations headquarters in the country that killed at least 23 people and wounded 81.

However, questions remains over tactics in the court case and whether prosecutions will stop the sect, which is suspected of killing four people Monday night at a beer parlor in northeast Nigeria. With violence increasing, the U.S. government also announced Tuesday it now required its diplomats to get advance permission before visiting Nigeria’s Muslim north.

The suspects appeared Tuesday before a magistrate court in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, accused of masterminding and carrying out a pre-election attack on an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in nearby Suleja in Niger state. Authorities previously said the April 8 bombing killed only eight people, but prosecutors indicated in charging documents Tuesday that 16 people died.

Prosecutors also allege the eight suspects carried out a bombing of a political rally that killed three people March 3, shot three police officers to death May 23 and killed three people in a July 10 bombing of a church.

Previously, Nigeria’s secret police announced the arrest of five suspects members of the Boko Haram sect in connection to these slayings, but prosecutors charged eight people on Tuesday. Prosecutor Cliff Osagie did not say Tuesday how security forces found the extra three suspects.

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