Nigerian President Says Jihadist Killings Have No Religious Basis

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said Saturday that killings by militants of Boko Haram and other Islamists across the globe, including those who killed a British aid worker, have no religious basis.

"What is happening globally now has no religious basis," Jonathan told visiting Muslim leaders on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice. "Only yesterday, a British aid worker was slaughtered by ISIS, and that is not Islamic."

British Prime Minister David Cameron has confirmed the "brutal murder" of aid worker Alan Henning, 47, by the Islamic State group on Friday.

"Boko Haram killing innocent children and women in marketplaces, in mosques, schools definitely has nothing to do with religion," Jonathan said.

The militants are believed to be in control of more than two dozen towns and villages in northeastern Nigeria.

The five-year-old insurgency has claimed thousands of lives.