Al-Qaida Outraged Over Boko Haram Kidnap of School Girls

Even al-Qaida is outraged by the kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian

schoolgirls, 276 of whom are still missing and who were expected to be

auctioned off as slaves in the name of Islam.
“Such news is spread to taint the image of the Mujahedeen,” said one post

on a website used by Islamic militants, The New York Times reports.

“There is news that they attacked a girls' school!” wrote another angry

writer.
Various Islamic and jihad groups are distancing themselves from Boko

Haram, the group that carried out the kidnapping, with even hard-line

militants praying that God would reach out to the kidnappers and “hold

them steady to the path” of Islam.
In the locally-spoken language of Hausa in northern Nigeria, Boko Haram

means “Western education is sinful.”
Experts claim the reaction is evidence that Islamic terrorist groups are

hardly a united front anymore.
“The violence most of the African rebel groups practice makes al-Qaida

look like a bunch of schoolgirls,” said Bronwyn Bruton, an Africa scholar

at the Atlantic Council in Washington, the Times reports.

“And al-Qaida at this point is a brand — and pretty much only a brand — so

you have to ask yourself how they are going to deal with the people who

are doing things so hideous even the leaders of al-Qaida are unwilling to

condone them,” Bruton writes in the Times.
Al-Qaida has been encouraging supporters to avoid attacks on those they

deem as innocent civilians in a PR move planned to not alienate its base.

But Boko Haram has developed a reputation for the mass murder of local

populations. The group is also more of a cult that follows a leader name

Mohamed Yusuf, who says he speaks directly to God.

The New York Post reported Thursday that Nigerian President Goodluck

Jonathan is saying he will find the abducted girls, but admits he has no

idea where they are.
“As a nation we are facing attack from terrorism,” he stated. “I believe

that the kidnap of these girls will be the beginning of the end of

terrorism in Nigeria.”