AJC: Nigerian School Massacre Shows Terrorists' Murderous Depravity

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Jul 07, 2013, 11:52 ET

NEW YORK, July 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC is horrified by the deliberate targeting and massacre of schoolchildren in the Nigerian village of Mamudo.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100816/AJCLOGO )

The overnight attack on a government secondary school left dozens dead, almost all of them children.

Boko Haram, an Islamist group, is widely suspected of carrying out the murderous attack at the Government Secondary School in northeast Nigeria. The name Boko Haram means "Western education is sacrilege." It has been linked to dozens of other deadly assaults in the region against Christian worshipers and other targets, including schools.

"Deliberately targeting children, indeed burning some alive, all too vividly demonstrates the extreme depravity of the perpetrators," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the victims. Our thoughts are with the survivors, who must now grapple with their wounds and the profound trauma they experienced. And our hope is that the terrorists who perpetrated this monstrous crime in the name of their demented ideology will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee