Boko Haram rejects talks

motorcycles shot dead a policeman.
Police confirmed the killing early yesterday, but said the attackers were trying to steal the officer’s motorcycle. Kaduna resident Rabiu Tukur disputed that account.
“They did not make any attempt to take his motorcycle which raised the fear that the attackers could be members of Boko Haram,” he said.
The group’s deadliest ever strike came on January 20, north of Kaduna, in Nigeria’s second city of Kano, where a co-ordinated set of gun and bomb attacks killed at least 185 people, highlighting the Islamists’ renewed strength.
Boko Haram has already claimed violence that has killed more than 200 people this year in Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer that is divided between a mainly Muslim and mainly Christian south.
President Goodluck Jonathan in a media interview this week urged the Islamists to state their demands and enter into dialogue.
But his call for talks was “not sincere”, purported Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa told journalists by telephone in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, regarded as the group’s stronghold.
“We don’t think dialogue is possible under the current situation,” he added.
If captured members of the group were not released, the group “will launch attacks in Sokoto similar to the big Kano attacks,” Qaqa warned. Sokoto is a northwestern city which is the capital of a state of the same name. – AFP.