US Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday that terrorist attacks such as the one on the Army Public School in Peshawar could not be justified by any means.
“This kind of atrocity can never be rationalized,” said Kerry adding, “We can’t change minds without knowing what’s in them.”
Several Taliban gunmen stormed the school in the northwestern city of Peshawar last month, killing 150 people, mostly children, in the country’s deadliest ever militant attack.
In an emotional speech on the horrors inflicted by extremist groups, Kerry said that “Violent extremism has claimed violence at every corner of the globe and muslim lives most of all,” Kerry said.
“There is no room for sectarian division. There is no room for anti-Semitism or Islamophobia,” he added.
Kerry told an audience in Davos that he would visit Nigeria “in a couple of days” as part of a Washington push to counter extremist groups, including Boko Haram.
“In the weeks to come we… have to strengthen our efforts in Somalia, intensify our efforts to end violence in Nigeria, that’s why I m going there in a couple of days,” he said.
After the speech, a spokesperson for Kerry confirmed that he would be in Lagos on Sunday and meet with President ‘Goodluck’ Jonathan.
