Religious hatred between Muslims and Christians - Nigeria

Peter Oborne's (Daily Mail) chilling report on religious hatred between Muslims and Christians:


There was total silence, apart from birdsong, when we entered the village of Kuru Karama. Every building had been burnt or destroyed. There were no villagers in sight, just two or three soldiers at a guard post dozing in the late afternoon sun.

At length, we found a group of young men and women. Did they live here? Yes. Had they been here on the day of the massacre?

No, they knew nothing. Were they Christian or Muslim? Christian. They bent their heads and one woman placed her hand over her mouth.

Finally, we came across Abdullah. He took us to a little square and pointed out some of the wells into which the Christian killers had thrown scores of dead bodies, their heads downwards.

Some of the bodies were so decomposed that they could not be removed. The stench of death seeped out of the wells.

Abdullah pointed to a sewage pit, now covered with concrete blocks. He told us that the attackers had thrown 30 children in, between six months and three years old. This pit was now their unmarked grave.

All around were burnt patches on the ground in the shape of human bodies, where the attackers had hacked down their victims, poured fuel on them, then set them alight.

Abdullah had been away in town on the day of the attack, and returned later to discover that he had lost 13 family members, including his wife.

He broke down as he told us how, when he helped to pull her body out of a well, he saw that her face had been mutilated. He could only recognise her by her clothes.

Later, talking to survivors, all of who had fled to neighbouring towns and villages, we pieced together much of what had happened. At 8.30am rumours circulated of an impending assault.

A meeting of local imams, pastors and community leaders was called at once - but the police and district chief dismissed their fears. At around 10.30am three vans parked outside the village and gangs of young men, and some women, emerged.

Their faces ware painted red and they were chanting 'kill, kill, kill'. Far from intervening, the local policemen, so we were told, joined in.

Armed with guns and machetes, the mob went systematically from house to house. At 6.30pm, about the time of sunset, a whistle was blown and the killers obediently got back into their vans, leaving more than 170 dead and others horribly mutilated. There have been no arrests, and no charges have been pressed.

Well over 1,000 people have been killed just this year, and there is no prospect at all of the carnage abating.

The full article can be read HERE

Airline terror plot

London, England (CNN) -- Counterterrorism officers were Saturday searching the suspected London home of a man at the center of an incident aboard a U.S.-bound passenger flight that Britain's home secretary described as a "potentially serious security threat."

The search, which focused on a upscale block in the heart of London's embassy district, followed the incident on Friday in which a Nigerian man ignited a small explosive device on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

The incident triggered an increase in security at UK airports and at Schiphol in Amsterdam, where the suspect in the attempted attack on a Northwest flight went through "normal security procedures," according to the security officials.

In the British capital, a spokesman for University College London confirmed they had a student named Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab enrolled in their Department of Mechanical Engineering from September 2005 to June 2008.

The name matched the identity of the suspect said by U.S. authorities to have been involved in an attempted terrorist attack.

UK Home Secretary Alan Johnson said he is following the case closely and has assured the public that police in Britain are working closely with U.S. investigators "to uncover the full background to the incident."

"We will ensure that the UK continues to have in place the most appropriate security measures to protect the public from the terrorist threat wherever it originates from," he said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown added in a separate statement: "The security of the public must always be our primary concern.

"We have been working closely with the U.S. authorities on investigating this incident since it happened yesterday. Because of the serious potential threat posed by the incident, I have spoken to the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, whose officers have been carrying out searched of properties in London.

"We will continue to take whatever action necessary to protect passengers on airlines and the public," Brown added.

One piece of information led police to an ornate building on Mansfield Street in London, where Abdulmutallab may have once lived in a basement apartment. It wasn't clear as to what police were searching for.

U.S. security sources told CNN that Abdulmutallab flew into Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on a KLM flight from Lagos, Nigeria. A U.S. administration official said the suspect did not undergo secondary screening in Amsterdam, though Schiphol officials say all connecting passengers bound for the United States undergo secondary searches.

Schiphol officials said they boosted the secondary screening for U.S.-bound connecting passengers Saturday, doing body searches and bag checks instead of using the usual metal detectors and X-ray machines. The measures were being implemented at the request of U.S. authorities, a Schiphol spokesman said.

There was also increased security Saturday for U.S.-bound passengers in Britain, whether they were connecting through Britain or flying direct.

BAA, which operates several British airports including London's Heathrow, said all passengers on U.S.-bound flights will now be subject to the secondary screening at the gate. The screening used to happen on a random basis.

There were no reported delays from Heathrow Saturday, but passengers boarding a U.S.-bound Virgin Atlantic aircraft were told there would be no in-flight electronic entertainment in the wake of the incident.

Britain's Department for Transport said U.S. authorities requested the additional measures.

"Passengers traveling to the United States should expect their airline to carry out additional security checks prior to boarding," BAA said. "To support this important process, which will take time, we would advise passengers to leave more time to check in and limit the amount of baggage being taken on board the aircraft. If in any doubt, please contact the relevant airline for further information."

The British Department for Transport said it would assess the measures "as necessary" as the situation develops.

The incident in Detroit will now focus attention on the searching of connecting passengers, especially those going to the United States, CNN Correspondent Richard Quest said.

"Previously discretionary searches are now likely to be mandatory and, certainly in the near future, all U.S.-bound passengers should expect to be searched before boarding the aircraft," he said.

-- CNN's Per Nyberg and Simon Hooper in London, England, and Richard Quest and Erin McLaughlin in Amsterdam, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

Scam weddings

'Bride in handcuffs'

Criminal gangs in Manchester and Bradford have been raking in up to £15,000 a time for setting up illegal marriages that allow immigrants to stay in Great Britain.

Slovakian brides and Nigerian grooms were arrested in a swoop on two homes yesterday. Four men from Nigeria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were also arrested in connection with the scam, while a further six Nigerian men were detained on suspicion of suspected immigration offences.

Full story here

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