It was a deadly weekend
[http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/06/us-nigeria-violence-idUSTRE7A515W20111106]
in Nigeria. The radical Islamist group Boko Haram
[http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2011/1106/Nigeria-Boko-Haram-s-deadly-attacks-show-Islamists-growing-reach]
staged a series of attacks that the Nigerian Red Cross says has left
more than 100 dead in the northeastern part of the country. The
terrorist attacks included shootings and suicide bombings, showing the
increasing sophistication of a group which, by some counts, has killed
as many as 330 people this year alone. On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy in
Nigeria warned that luxury hotels in Abuja might be targets of further
attacks.
JOHN CAMPBELL is the senior fellow for Africa policy at the Council on
Foreign Relations [http://www.cfr.org/], discusses the changing face
of Islamist extremism in the context of Boko Haram. Campbell was also
the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria from 2004 to 2007.
