The two Indians gunned down in Nigeria on Wednesday will be cremated in the town of Maiduguri where the killing took place, government sources said. There have been no leads so far about who is behind the attack in the violence-torn region. An Indian was also injured when the factory where they worked was targeted by suspected militants.
The attackers killed Shanker Saha (35) and Bokul Chander Mondal (35) and seriously wounded Biresh Yadav (43), who is battling for his life at the Maiduguri University Teaching Hospital. They had been working in a family-owned factory for five years and stayed with their families.
Awaiting details: MEA
“We are awaiting details of who the perpetrators were. No organisation has claimed responsibility; neither has the Nigerian government told our mission whom it suspects to be behind the attack,” said Ministry of External Affairs sources.
The Indian High Commissioner in Abuja has written to the Nigerian Foreign Ministry and the local Governor seeking a thorough investigation.
Identity of group
Officials have reasons to be circumspect about the identity of the group because a splinter faction from the loosely-organised Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram had initiated the last round of violence in the region that started from Maiduguri and left 700 dead. But PTI quoted a military officer in Nigeria suspecting the involvement of Boko Haram and he said the attackers decamped with $450. An Indian, along with two Nepalis, was killed in January this year in the town of Kano where militant Islamists are active.
In a still-remembered incident that occurred five years ago, the militants successfully forced the World Health Organisation to suspend a polio vaccination drive by claiming this was West’s attempt to make children sterile. Clashes between Muslims and Evangelical Christians began taking place from early nineteenth century, fresh trouble began in the late 1960s and was sustained by economic troubles in the 1980s and continued even after the end of military rule in 1999.
Major oil-producer
Nigeria is sub-Saharan Africa’s major oil producer and is among the top five suppliers of oil to the U.S. With a population that is growing much faster than the world average and with about 40 per cent unemployment, its woes have multiplied due to religious awakening drives among various sects of the dominant religions, leading to competitive radicalisation.
