Those executed included aid workers from the International Rescue Committee and Action Against Hunger
Jihadists allied to Isil have executed five aid workers who were trying to deliver food and medical supplies to remote areas of Northeast Nigeria, amid surging coronavirus cases in the region.
An unconfirmed video clip released on social media on Wednesday appears to show the murders.
Five men kneel on the ground in red blindfolds as a voice accuses them of converting local people from Islam, according to a translation by the Nigerian outlet, Premium Times.
“If you don’t heed to our warning, what is about to happen to these five aid workers would also be fate that will befall you too,” the voice says. Then the five men are shot.
“It is with profound grief that we confirm the murder of Ishaku Yakubu…[a] staff member from Monguno, and four other aid workers,” the Action Against Hunger said.
The Paris-based group said that the humanitarians “were taken hostage by a non-state armed group in Borno State, northeast Nigeria, on June 8”.
The International Rescue Committee confirmed that one of its employees, Luka Filibus, was also among those killed.
“We condemn this barbaric treatment and demand the immediate return of his remains to his family,” the New York-based NGO said.
The other aid workers were working for Rich International and the Nigerian State Emergency Management Agency, according to the Nigerian presidency.
Northeast Nigeria has been wracked by a conflict with Boko Haram and its splinter group allied to Isil in the Middle East for the last decade.
More than 35,000 people have been killed in the conflict and thousands of women and children have been abducted by extremists to be sex slaves and suicide bombers.
The region is one of the most dangerous places of earth for humanitarians, who often take extraordinary risks travelling through territory the Nigerian army is too scared to enter to get to those in need.
– The Telegraph.