New Boko Haram Leader Says They Will Concentrate On KILLING ONLY CHRISTIANS

Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the new leader of the Boko Haram sect that has ravaged Nigeria with terror in the last 7 years is set to focus on islamizing Nigeria by attacking the Christian population.

Al-Barnawi in a recent interview published on Wednesday by the Islamic State Group and reported by the Associated Press, is threatening to bomb churches and kill Christians while the mosques will be excluded from the target list.

Boko Haram in recent times has deviated from one of its major aims of islamizing Nigeria by banning Christianity which is a dominant religion in the secular state of Nigeria.

He also says there is a Western plot to Christianize the region and has accused charities of using their aid for that, according to a SITE Intelligence Group translation of an interview published Wednesday in the Islamic State newspaper al-Nabaa.

The newspaper identified Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the new “Wali,” or governor, of its so-called West Africa Province. The “Wali” title was previously used to describe long-time Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

The report did not say what Shekau’s current status was, although there have been rumors for weeks that he had been replaced.

Meanwhile Shekau has spoken about the installation of al-Barnawi which he described as a coup.

The interview with al-Barnawi indicates a major shift in strategy for the Nigerian extremists, who have killed many more Muslims than Christians in attacks in mosques with suicide bombers and gunmen.

“They strongly seek to Christianize the society. … They exploit the condition of those who are displaced under the raging war, providing them with food and shelter and then Christianizing their children,” SITE Intelligence quotes the new leader as saying.

Al-Barnawi says the militants will respond to that threat by “booby-trapping and blowing up every church that we are able to reach, and killing all of those (Christians) who we find from the citizens of the cross.”

Wednesday’s announcement indicates a coup by Boko Haram breakaway group Ansaru against Shekau, and follows a trend of extremist Islamic groups moving away from al-Qaida to the Islamic State, analyst Jacob Zenn said.

Ansaru broke away from Boko Haram because it disagrees with the indiscriminate killing of civilians, especially Muslims.