Boko Haram Member Sends Letter Requesting Dialogue
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.
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