Citizens of Britain, Italy, Greece, Lebanon and Philippines kidnapped in north Nigeria attack
By Associated Press, Published: February 17
BAUCHI, Nigeria — Gunmen attacked a camp for a construction company in rural northern Nigeria, killing a guard and kidnapping seven foreign workers from Britain, Greece, Italy, Lebanon and the Philippines, authorities said Sunday, in the biggest kidnapping yet in a region under attack by Islamic extremists.
The attack Saturday night happened in Jama’are, a town in Bauchi state. There, the gunmen first attacked a local prison, burning two police trucks, Bauchi state police spokesman Hassan Muhammed told The Associated Press.
The gunmen then targeted a workers’ camp for Lebanese construction company Setraco, which is building a road in the area, Muhammed said. The gunmen shot dead a guard at the camp before kidnapping the foreign workers, the spokesman said.
“The gunmen came with explosives, which they used to break some areas,” Muhammed said. He did not elaborate and an AP journalist could not immediately reach the town, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the state capital, Bauchi.
One British citizen, one Greek, one Italian, three Lebanese and one Filipino were kidnapped, said Adamu Aliyu, the chairman of the local government area that encompasses Jama’are. He said one of the hostages was a woman, while the rest were men. He initially had said four of the hostages were Lebanese. He blamed the confusion on incorrect information he received from his staff.
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Ever since - going back to the rise of the Taliban, the USA does not want to target the real problem of this rise in Islamism and that is the Saudi Arabian exported version of Islam. It’s this weird relationship where the USA is sometimes allied with these Saudi Islamists (used against the Soviets and then against the Yugoslavs and Russians in Chechnya and then against Qaddafi and the Syrian Ba’athists with an approving wink and a nod from the USA’s State Dept and CIA pre 9/11) and sometimes antagonistic to the Islamists.
The USA backs Pakistan for example, a relationship that dates to the USA using Pakistan to threaten India with because India was seen as an ally of the then USSR. And now Pakistan is linked to the USA in a relationship that is toxic because the USA wants to get closer to India but Pakistan still is fighting a war for Kashmir and the USA, like a beast in quicksand, can’t extract itself from Pakistan.
PS: Muslims are also the victims of the Saudi brand of Islam.
PPS: Saudi Arabia’s Islamism has been by far more destructive to the world than Iran’s Shi’a Islamism. Yet, Iran is America’s #1 enemy over Saudi Arabia.
Until some American in power gets the courage to correct this weird relationship with Saudi Arabia, America’s foreign policy problems in the Muslim world will always be there.