A new radical Islamist sect,
Ansaru, on Sunday claimed
responsibility for the recent
kidnapping of a French national
in Katsina.
The group cited France’s push
for military intervention in Mali as
a justification, accordint to AFP.
A statement by the group said,
“Ansaru announces to the world,
especially the French
government, that it was
responsible for the abduction of
engineer Francis Colump, 63,
working for the French company
Vergnet.”
Wednesday last week, about 30
gunmen stormed Vergnet’s
residence in Katsina State, where
the alternative energy firm has a
wind power project.
“The reason for his kidnap is the
stance of the French government
and the French people on Islam,”
said the statement written in
Hausa.
The group specifically pointed to
“France’s major role in the
(planned) attack on the Islamic
state in northern Mali.”
It also cited France’s “law
outlawing the use of Islamic veil
by Muslim women.”
Paris has backed plans to deploy
a west African force in northern
Mali to flush out the Al-Qaeda-
linked Islamist groups who took
control of the vast desert
territory earlier this year.
“We inform the French
government that this group will
continue launching attacks on
the French government and
French citizens … as long as it
does not change its stance on
these two issues,” the Ansaru
statement said.
The police chief in Katsina,
Abdullahi Magaji, told AFP that
there were indications that
former or current employees of
Vergnet had been involved,
arguing that the attack appeared
to be “an inside job.
Ansaru is less well known than
Islamist group Boko Haram,
which is waging a deadly
insurgency in the North since
2009.
The two groups are known to
have ties but are seen as
independent.
In November, Britain’s interior
ministry identified Ansaru as a
“Nigeria-based terrorist
organisation” and declared
membership or support for it
illegal.
The group’s full name, Jama’atu
Ansarul Muslimina fi Biladis
Sudan, is roughly translated as
Vanguards for the aid of Muslims
in black Africa.

http://www.punchng.com/news/we-kidnapped-frenchman-in-katsina-new-sect/

Boko Haram, Ansaru. This is getting too much.

Usa should be fast in sending some soldiers to nigeria. And they should include that there beast of kander, cos there should be lots of bombing in bh hideouts in the north.