The Boko Haram sect said on Tuesday it was behind attacks in Jos, Plateau State, last weekend that killed at least 65 people, but security forces blamed the violence on localised ethnic clashes.
“We praise God in this war for the Prophet Mohammad. We thank Allah for the successful attack in … Plateau State on Christians and security men,” an email in the local Hausa language from the Boko Haram’s spokesman Abul Qaqa said.
Reuters says the email was sent to reporters in Boko Haram’s home base in Maiduguri from an address previously used by Qaqa.
But there are doubts about the level of Boko Haram’s involvement because security forces said when violence broke out on Saturday they were engaging nomadic Fulani herdsman who often clash with indigenous tribes in the volatile “Middle Belt”, where the largely-Muslim north meets the mostly-Christian south.
On Sunday, gunmen shot dead a senator and several others at a mass burial of 63 victims killed in the previous day’s violence.
Boko Haram often targets government officials.
“Before, Christians were killing Muslims, helped by the government, so we have decided that we will continue to hunt down government agents wherever they are,” Qaqa’s email said.
Fighting erupted on Saturday in often volatile areas in Plateau State when gunmen fought with security forces, torched mostly Christian villages and butchered families.