Abuja, Nigeria -- Early Sunday morning as villagers prayed, men in camouflage crept into a local mosque and opened fire, killing at least 44 worshipers and sending dozens of others to the hospital, according to local security sources. Some 20 miles away, 12 other people were killed in a similar attack.

Nigerian authorities are now publicly blaming Boko Haram for the attacks in the villages of Konduga and Ngom, and saying that the Islamist militant group was sending a message: If you cooperate with Nigerian security forces, we may kill you [....]

[...] this week Boko Haram's ostensible leader, the shadowy Abubakar Shekau, who appears only on videotape, challenged a variety of world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, saying "you are no match for me." 

While the group started out with an anti-Western, anti-Christian message (the term "Boko Haram" translates as "Western education is sinful") its core ideology appears increasingly inchoate even as its targets of killing get wider and wider, this time including Muslims praying in a mosque [....]