Boko Haram claims attack on Shia procession in Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for Friday afternoon’s suicide attack on a Shia Muslim procession in Nigeria, claiming it had killed up to 30 people and injured 100 others.

“God willing, we will not stop launching such attacks until the land is free of such atheistic gatherings," the Islamic State in West Africa Province, or Boko Haram, said in an online statement circulated on Saturday morning.

The group identified the culprit as "our brother Abu Sulaiman Al-Ansary”.

A photograph of the bomber, clad in a black turban and holding a rifle, accompanied the statement.

Boko Haram does not consider the Shia community to be Muslims. The extremist group does not regard anyone outside their ranks as true Muslims, even describing Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, a Sunni Muslim, as a “disbeliever”.

An official from the Nigerian Shia community said yesterday that at least 21 people had been killed and dozens more injured as the suicide bomber struck a large procession at Chiromawa, a village roughly 50 kilometers [31 miles] from the northwestern city of Kano.

Musa Ilallah, northwest coordinator of the country's NEMA relief agency, confirmed the attack but could not say how many people had been killed.