Nigerian president condemns missile attack on Mecca

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned Thursday’s missile attack on Mecca, Islam's holiest city, describing the attack as both “reprehensible and ignoble”.

“President Buhari spoke with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia to express Nigeria’s solidarity with the Kingdom in the aftermath of the ballistic missile launched by [Yemeni] Houthi militias targeting the holy city of Makkah,” presidential spokesman Femi Adesina said in a statement Sunday.

The statement quoted Buhari expressing appreciation to Allah that the Saudi defense forces intercepted and downed the missile 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Mecca.

“In a telephone conversation with King Salman, President Buhari reiterated the need to strengthen international support and coalition in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism, noting that when the world stands together, there is no way good would not prevail over evil,” it added.

A Saudi-led military coalition on Thursday announced it had intercepted a ballistic missile allegedly fired by Yemen’s Shia Houthi militia.

A Houthi spokesman has denied the group targeted the holy city amid worldwide condemnation of the attack.

Yemen has been wracked by chaos since late 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran the capital, Sanaa, and other parts of the country, forcing members of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.

The conflict escalated in March of last year when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Muslim allies launched a massive military campaign aimed at reversing Houthi gains in Yemen and restoring the country’s embattled