An aid worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been killed in Nigeria by Islamist militants who kidnapped her last March.
Hauwa Liman, a midwife, was killed days after kidnappers set a deadline. The ICRC said it was devastated by the news. The Nigerian government called the murder “inhuman and ungodly”. Ms Liman was taken with two others in the northern Nigerian town of Rann. Fellow midwife Saifura Ahmed Khorsa was killed last month.
A 15-year-old schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, is being held by the same militant group, Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap), which is affiliated to the Islamic State group and is a faction of the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram. Ms Sharibu was one of 110 schoolgirls who were kidnapped in the northern town of Dapchi last February. Most of the other students were freed but Ms Sharibu, who reportedly refused to convert to Islam, remains in captivity.
Ms Liman, 24, and Ms Khorsa were working with internally displaced people at a health centre supported by the ICRC in Rann, Borno State, the epicentre of militant activity. Alice Loksha was working as a nurse in another centre supported by Unicef. They were abducted after Iswap fighters attacked the town on 1 March 2018. Three other humanitarian workers and eight members of the security forces were killed in the attack.
Last month, the ICRC received a video showing the killing of Ms Khorsa. Exactly a month later, on Monday, another video appeared showing the killing of Ms Liman. A local reporter, who said he had seen it, reported that Ms Liman was shot at close range. The ICRC said she was a “sociable, dynamic and enthusiastic woman who was much loved by family and friends. She was truly dedicated to her work helping vulnerable women in her family’s home area”. BBC
Pix: Midwife Hauwa Liman was helping displaced women and children when she was kidnapped
