The Islamic State West Africa Province on December 25, Christmas Day, executed 11 captives reportedly to be mostly Christians.
According to Ahmad Salkida, a journalist renowned for monitoring terrorist activities in Nigeria, the captives were killed executed “as a revenge for the killings of our leaders, including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Abul-Hasan Al-Muhajir in Iraq and Syria.”
The report read, “The terrorist group claimed that they spared the lives of two persons that appeared in the earlier video, but did not give their names.
“However, a careful assessment of the video revealed that Suwaiba Kashimu from Nasarawa state, and one other male, were apparently not amongst those killed on Christmas.
“If this is the case, not all 11 of the victims are Christians as claimed by the group, there were three Muslims and 10 Christians that appeared in the captured video on the 17th December.
“ISWAP, however, gave two reasons for the executions, “we killed them as a revenge for the killings of our leaders, including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Abul-Hasan Al-Muhajir in Iraq and Syria,” said a member of the group’s media unit.
“The decision to execute the captives was rather swift, abrupt and shocking. ISWAP had reportedly opened a window of negotiations ostensibly to exchange the freedom of the captives with those of its members in government custody but the Nigerian government failed to take the offer.”
