One of the suspected killers who attempted to behead and disembowel a young soldier in the horrific Woolwich attack had listened to the preachings of a radical Muslim cleric banned from Britain over extremist activities, including alleged links to al-Qa’ida.
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The cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed has been secretly filmed stating that decapitation of the enemies of Islam was permitted.
Today, in comments met with outrage, he told that he could understand the feeling of rage that had motivated the attackers and that what they had done could be justified under certain interpretations of Islam.
Michael Adebolajo, a British-Muslim convert of Nigerian origin who gave a video interview with a meat cleaver in his bloodied hands while the body of 25-year-old Drummer Lee Rigby lay on the street behind him, declared that he was fighting for “Almighty Allah”.
Last night the second suspect was understood to be Michael Adebowale, 22, of Greenwich.
Mr Bakri Muhammed, who now lives in Lebanon, said: “I saw the film and we could see that he [the suspect] was being very courageous.
“Under Islam this can be justified, he was not targeting civilians, he was taking on a military man in an operation. To people around here [in the Middle East] he is a hero for what he has done.”
Mr Bakri Muhammed said of the suspect: “I knew him as Michael when he came to the meetings and then he converted and he became known as Abdullah. I hear he then started calling himself Mujahid. He asked questions about religion, he was curious.
He had first started coming when there was a lot of anger about the Iraq war and the war on terror. Whether I influenced him or not, I do not know. But he was a quiet boy, so something must have happened.”
In other developments, two new arrests were made: a man and a woman on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, following raids at six addresses in London and Lincoln.
Shocking footage also surfaced of the pair being shot by armed response officers from the Metropolitan Police.
The video below shows one of the men charge at police and drop one of his knives before being gunned down.
His accomplice is seen raising his arm and aiming a handgun at officers before he too is downed, as eight shots ring out in total.
In 2007, following the conviction of a group British Pakistanis who had plotted to kidnap and behead a British soldier, a secret recording emerged of Mr Bakri Muhammed saying: “When you meet [Westerners], slice their own necks. And when you make the blood spill all over, and the enemy becomes so tired, now start to take from them prisoners. Then free them or exchange them until the war is finished.
“Verily they remind the sunnah of removing the head of the enemy. They remind the sunnah of slaughtering the enemy. They remind the sunnah of how to strike the neck of the enemy. They removed the head of the enemy. Use the sword and remove the head of the enemy.”
In another message, Mr Bakri Muhammed had said he hoped that “British Muslims who are in the Army over there” (Afghanistan) can be captured.
Mr Bakri Muhammed, who is Syrian-born, and has named one of his sons after Osama bin Laden, stated that he and his followers were not involved in violence while residing in the UK due to what had become known as the “covenant of security” under which Islamist organisations were allowed to carry out their activities, but desisted from taking armed action in the country which had given them refuge.
“But in this case obviously the covenant of security did not apply,” he said.
“Beheading is how criminals were executed under the laws, but that must happen with a Sharia court and decision by judges with criminals. On this occasion he was taking military action, not a legal one.”
A 29-year-old woman at a home in south London, and a man of the same age, were arrested in arrested at an undisclosed location.
The two men shot by police remain in hospital with non-fatal injuries but it is understood officers are yet to interview the pair. It emerged that the shooting was captured by a council camera. Two officers fired their guns and a third fired a taser weapon, the Independent Police Complaints Commission said.
"Angel" did not want victim to die alone
The son of a woman who became known as the "angel" of the Woolwich attacks has spoken about what made his mother stay praying by the side of dying soldier Lee Rigby.
He said: "She just thought at the time, imagine if that was my son. No one wants to die with no one by their side. She just wanted to comfort the guy." He did not want to be named.
Family friend Joe Tallant said: "She wanted to comfort the man... She put her hands on his chest and prayed."
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Jigawa on
Thursday arrested a 50-year old hunter for allegedly impregnating his
17-year old step granddaughter in Dutse.
Africa’s richest man and President of
Dangote Group Alhaji Aliko Dangote yesterday promised to end fuel
importation in Nigeria in four years when his proposed refinery comes on
stream.
The police at Ilemba Hausa, Ajangbadi Division, Lagos State, southwest
Nigeria, have arrested four suspects who allegedly steal or buy
children from Lagos and sell in the eastern part of the country.
From the tides of
terrorism that have reached a climax in Nigeria to the torrents of similarly
horrifying tidings across the world, it will probably take a full time job to
keep track of the tragic events that have become a normal part of our day-to-day
life.
The Nigerian Army 34 Artillery Brigade
Obinze Imo State has arrested a 27-year old man, Mr. Ejike Anyaibe from
Ikeduru local government area of Imo State, for allegedly parading
himself as an army captain and extorting money from unsuspecting Imo
citizens with the aim of securing them opportunity in the on-going
recruitment in the Nigerian Army.
Feelings of shame and despair at being conned out of $300,000
by a convincing Nigerian based email scam led Queensland interior
decorator Jill Ambrose to attempt suicide twice.
She survived and is now on a crusade to tell her story so that other people are not taken in by the scammers.
The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, has called on the Federal
Government to set up machinery for compensating the victims of the Boko
Haram insurgency across the nation.
The National Assembly yesterday curbed
the sweeping powers conferred on President Goodluck Jonathan by the
emergency rule proclamation instruments, restricting him to exercising
control on security matters only.
The 23rd Ordinary Session of AU
Executive Council, on Thursday night in Addis Ababa, unanimously
endorsed Nigeria's candidature for a UN Security Council (UNSC)
non-permanent seat in 2014.
As lovers of the popular reality TV show, Big Brother Africa brace up for the 8th season this weekend, millions of viewers across Nigeria will be wondering whether the feat achieved by Kevin Pam, Uti Nwachukwu and
Karen Igho in 2009, 2010 and 2011 editions of the shows
respectively will happen again. As we still cast our minds back to last year's edition (2012) when the Nigerian reps, Chris and Ola had to leave the show early based on health grounds, and most recently the death Goldie, the Nigerian celebrity representative. Of course we will all wish for better luck this time.
A woman, Sakirat Attah, 25, has been arrested by the police at Elemoro
Division, Lekki, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, for severely scalding her
son’s face.
The petty trader who resides at Abijo village in Ibeju
Lekki, allegedly carried out the dastardly act while punishing little
Daniel for licking their neighbour’s soup.
P.M.NEWS
gathered that Sakirat also used a broken bottle to stab Daniel in the
head during her fit of anger and he sustained a deep cut in the head
A police source told P.M.NEWS
that the victim’s neighbours rescued him from the mother and quickly
rushed him to a nearby hospital due to excessive loss of blood.
P.M.NEWS
gathered that trouble started for the little boy when their co-tenant
allegedly caught him licking their pot of soup and reported him to his
mother.
The
mother of the child was said to have dragged her son inside her room
and locked the door. She allegedly lit her stove and put an iron spoon
on it to get hot and used it to burn her son’s face and hands as
punishment.
It was also gathered that when the little boy was not
cooperating with her, she allegedly broke a bottle and stabbed him in
the head before neighbours who allegedly heard the boy crying for help
entered the woman’s room and rescued him.
During interrogation,
the little boy allegedly admitted licking the soup because he was
seriously hungry since his mother did not provide food for him to eat on
time.
The neighbours, it was learnt, reported the matter to the police who arrested the woman.
During
interrogation, she allegedly admitted scalding her son with hot spoon
to teach him a lesson not to steal again, adding that she did not know
that the torture would cause the boy such injuries.
After
investigation, she was charged before an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court,
Lagos on a one count charge of assaulting a minor occasioning bodily
harm.
The offence, the prosecutor, Supol E. C. Ekuma said,
contravened section 171 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. The
accused pleaded not guilty to the charge and the presiding chief
magistrate, Mrs. Femi Segun admitted her on bail in the sum of N100,000
with two sureties in like sum with proof of two years tax payment to the
Lagos State Government.
She also directed that one of the
sureties must be a blood relation, while the other must be a community
leader. She adjourned the matter till 27 June, 2013 for mention.
The defendant was, however, moved to Kirikiri Prison, Apapa, pending when she would fulfill the bail conditions.
Despite the emergency rule and the deployment of over 3000 Joint Taks
Force troops in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, some gunmen
suspected to be Boko Haram sect yesterday shot dead provision store
dealer, Mr. Bitrus Kwaji and his son (name witheld), while one child
suspected to be Almajiri was killed by a stray bullet in Chescon area of
Federal low cost of the metropolis.
After weeks of denial, Nollywood bad boy, Jim Iyke and fair
complexioned Ghollywood screen goddess, Nadia Buari have confirmed they
are both dating.
Helplessly love struck Nadia tweeted
Northern elders has spurned the benevolence by President Goodluck
Jonathan ordering the release of terror suspects from prisons across the
region, saying he would at some point in time be made to account for
the women and children seized by security agents based on unverified
terrorism charges.
Northern Elders Thursday spurned the benevolence of President Goodluck Jonathan in ordering the release of terror suspects from prisons across the region, saying that he would one day made to account for the woman and children seized by security agents based on unverified terrorism charges.
A 23-year-old pregnant woman caused a
stir at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters on Thursday after
she confessed that she had sold her unborn baby for N200,000, in
advance.
The two men suspected of butchering a soldier on a London street in a gruesome Islamist attack were known to security agents, government sources suggested on Thursday.
‘Ego anaghi egote nwa’ is a popular saying among the Igbos. In
English it means: “Money cannot buy children.” The foundation of this
maxim was however, shaken recently when the police discovered a baby
making factory in Umuaka community of Imo State.
The Police and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA,
Thursday, engaged in a battle of wit over who among them has statutory
power to prosecute drug offences.
The face-off came to the fore at the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti
when a case involving alleged possesion of narcotic drug (Indian hemp)
by an accused person, Andrew Daniel, came up for hearing
Talented producer and artiste, Samklef drops the brand new video for the earlier released banging -Suwe Remix featuringOlamide, brought to you by Klef Records, directed by Samklef and styled by tianastyling. Enjoy...