‘Islamic Militants’ Gun Down 56 in Nigerian Mosque

Islamic militants wearing army fatigues murdered 44 people who were praying at a mosque in northeast Nigeria. Another 12 civilians were killed in a simultaneous attack, security agents said Monday.

Sunday’s attacks were the latest in a wave of violence by religious extremists in West Africa, where the Boko Haram group, wishing to oust the government and impose Islamic law, has been posing the greatest security threat in years.

Security agents are still trying to figure out the Islamic Boko Haram would kill worshipping Muslims. The group has been known to attack mosques whose clerics have spoken out against religious extremism. Boko Haram also has attacked Christians outside churches and teachers and schoolchildren, as well as government and military targets.

According to the AP, since 2010, the Boko Haram have been blamed for the murders of more than 1,700 people.

The mosque murders took place Sunday morning in Konduga, 22 miles outside Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s Borno state.