Recent killings recorded in Benue state and other parts of the country may have been carried out by the West African network of the Islamic State. The Department of State Services (DSS) is said to have informed President Muhammadu Buhari in an intelligence report.
A top government official told journalists on Sunday that the security organisations told the President that the ISWA network is using foreign terrorists and recruiting young men to fight and kill innocent persons "ostensibly to exacerbate tensions along the county’s ethnic, religious and regional fault lines.”He said the discovery was made following the arrest of several suspected attackers made up of Fulani herdsmen, government-sponsored militias, militants and other miscreants in Benue.
The source further revealed that among those in custody are many suspects who cannot speak any of Nigerian languages. He, however, said they were fluent in French language. He noted that this was the first time security officials would be confirming that the ISWA members operate as a unit in Nigeria. The source said, "A good number of the Islamic State terrorists have been arrested not only in the Benue valley but significantly in several towns in Edo State, specifically in Akoko-Edo, Okpella and Benin as well as in Okene, in Kogi state.
"It is understood that the cell which has members in different parts of the country concentrates on recruiting young men to fight for the Islamic State in West Africa by unleashing the cold-blooded murder of innocent citizens.“There was intelligence report that they had planned several attacks here, before and during Christmas and the New Year. Their bombing targets included fuel depots, foreign missions and police and military establishments. "Their network is very wide. But so much was achieved by the DSS which had made a significant number of arrests in the last two months that helped to preempt those attacks.”
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