U.S. promises to hunt down Boko Haram bombers

The US has promised to help Nigeria hunt down the terrorists who killed at least 39 people on Christmas Day, most of them at a church.

"We have been in contact with Nigerian officials about what appear to be terrorist acts and pledge to assist them in bringing those responsible to justice," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement yesterday.

And two months after the death of Sunday Nwachukwu in a South African hospital, another victim of the August 26 bomb attack on the United Nations House in Abuja, is dead, bringing the death toll to 25.

A source at the UN headquarters in Abuja told THISDAY at the weekend that the latest victim - Fred Simiyu Willis, a Kenyan - died on Friday, December 23, at the Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg.

THISDAY gathered that following the August 26 bomb attack, Willis, who was a health officer with the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF), was among the victims flown to the South African hospital, and was said to have undergone multiple operations after which he developed several complications.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has condemned the deadly bomb blasts that occured in some parts of Northern Nigeria on Christmas day and "called for an end to all acts of sectarian violence in the country".

A militant religious sect, Boko Haram, had already claimed responsibility for these deadly attacks.

A five-paragraph statement issued in New York said the UN scribe "strongly condemned" the bombings and reiterated his firm conviction that nothing could justify this resort to violence.

Ki-moon also expressed his sympathy and condolences to the people of Nigeria and to those who lost loved ones in the attacks.

In the statement, Ki-moon recalled that, "Last month, at least 65 people were killed in the North-eastern cities of Damaturu and Potiskum after Islamist insurgents bombed churches, mosques and police stations and fought hours of gun battles with police."

This Day

Related stories: Boko Haram attack Churches on Christmas day - 40 dead

Video - Nigeria's fight against Boko Haram