A purported senior member of Islamist militant group Boko Haram has distributed a letter requesting talks with the government, a day after a double suicide bombing blamed on the sect killed at least 11 and wounded 30 in an army barracks.

The letter, according to Reuters was signed by Sheik Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulazeez, a man known by security sources to be a sect member but considered to be a moderate.

If the letter is genuine, it would appear to mark a change of tact for the Islamists that fits ill with a spate of violent episodes, including the bombing of the military church on Sunday.

That bombing showed a degree of sophistication not seen from Boko Haram for months.
Nearly 3,000 people have died violent deaths related to the conflict since the sect launched its uprising in 2009, according to a count by Human Rights Watch.

Boko Haram has replaced militancy in the oil-rich Niger Delta over that time to become the biggest security threat to Africa’s top energy producer.

The letter was handed to the national head of the union of journalists, Aba Kakami, who has often received and distributed statements from the sect, usually claiming attacks against high profile targets or warning of them.

More: http://channelkoos.com/index.php/news/3156-boko-haram-sends-letter-offering-dialogue

I didn't see the address of the writer of the letter

Gov't should jst take advantage of this offer pls. All this gra-gra to show they can fight them will not take us anywhere.....cos if this insurgency continues, it is we(civillian) that will suffer more.

Gej should not listen to those his advisers(those sayin he shld not dialogue), as we knw where some of their advice hav led him in the past.

youngies: I didn't see the address of the writer of the letter

i'm sure u know boko haram headquarter and where they're operating from...u can jst add d known adress to the letter to complete it.

Their adress is: No700 , boko haram street, off bomb factory avenue, Borno state, NE , nigeria.

Smh.....

there is always a dialogue b4 d next attack...i sense some kind of palour trick here.

So the bombing was to cow the FG into dialogue with bokoharam abi?? BokoHaram people, after your amnesty and u all come out in the open, u think the relations of all those you have killed will smile and give u a handshake? Think again. U people deserve only death for the innocent children u've made orphans, for the widows and widowers u've made, for families you av wiped off the earth. My advise to northerners is that they should not (as ND people did) claim BH just to get stipends from FG. If u do, u r signing ur death warrant.

I thought Boko Haram was against Western Education previously? Who wrote the letter for them?