UN and UK Denounce Massacre at Mosque in Nigeria

44 killed

The United Nations and the United Kingdom have condemned the killing of 44 people in Borno State as they prayed in their mosque by the Boko Haram Islamic sect last Sunday even as the Federal Government dismissed the threat posed by the sect while conceding that the sect has destroyed Nigeria's reputation.

Gunmen wearing Nigerian army camouflage fatigues struck under cover of darkness as residents were saying their dawn prayers at around 5:30 a.m. last Sunday, just as another 12 civilians died in a simultaneous attack on Ngom village just outside Maiduguri, .

While the British Cabinet Minister, Mark Simmonds, yesterday condemned the attack as "contemptible and cowardly", UN Secretary General, Ban ki Moon asked for dialogue to resolve the violence.