At least 19 civilians were killed when armed men raided a village in west Niger close to the border with Mali, officials have said, in the latest bloodshed in the troubled region. The governor of Tillaberi region said dozens of heavily armed attackers on motorbikes stormed the village of Gaigorou on Saturday evening. Governor Ibrahim Tidjani Katiella told DPA news agency the attackers, who likely came from Mali, surrounded the village and then started killing the inhabitants. A municipal official from Dessa on Sunday confirmed that 19 people were killed and two others wounded in the attack. He told AFP … Continue reading 19 people killed in west Niger attack

Unidentified assailants have killed the leader of a former Tuareg-led rebel alliance in Mali in an attack outside his home. Sidi Brahim Ould Sidati, president of the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), was shot in the capital, Bamako, on Tuesday morning, alliance spokesman Almou Ag Mohamed said. He was taken to a hospital but died hours later from his wounds, added Mohamed. Mali’s government confirmed that Ould Sidati died of gunshot wounds and said it would open an investigation into the attack. No one has claimed responsibility for the shooting. Mali is going through a transition following a military coup … Continue reading Mali CMA leader Sidi Brahim Ould Sidati dies from gunshot wounds

Dozens of people are dead following an attack on the town of Palma in northern Mozambique, according to a spokesperson from the country’s defence department. Seven were killed trying to escape a siege on a hotel, said Omar Saranga, hundreds of others, both locals and foreigners, were reportedly rescued. The area has been under attack by Islamist militants since Wednesday. Witnesses have described hiding out while waiting to be rescued by boat, on a beach strewn with headless bodies. Marine traffic websites showed a string of vessels around Palma, and the port of Pemba to the south, as people tried … Continue reading Dozens dead after militant assault in Mozambique

Thirty people, including 11 civilians, have died in two days of fighting between government forces and a militia in the eastern DR Congo province of Ituri, the army said Thursday. “Eleven civilians were killed, two soldiers and a policemen died” on Monday when the CODECO militia attacked the villages of Tchele and Garua, its provincial spokesman Lieutenant Jules Ngongo told AFP. In an army counter-offensive on Tuesday “16 militiamen were neutralised,” he said. Troops pursued the militia to its rear base, in the village of Mbau, and secured Tchele and Garua, Ngongo said. CODECO which means, Cooperation for the Development … Continue reading 30 dead in clashes between troops and militia in east DR Congo

Armed men in southwestern Niger have killed at least 58 people when they intercepted a convoy returning from a weekly market and attacked a nearby village, the government said on Tuesday. The attacks on Monday occurred in the Tillabery region, which is near the border with Mali and Burkina Faso and has seen increasingly deadly attacks by armed groups active across the region with links to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda. The announcement was read on Niger state television on Tuesday evening by government spokesman Abdourahmane Zakaria, who declared three days of national mourning for the victims. The mass killings underscore … Continue reading Gunmen kill 58 civilians in attack on Niger convoy

Armed men attempted to kidnap more students in Nigeria’s Kaduna state overnight on Sunday, a state government official said, as 39 others from an earlier attack remain missing. Attacks by armed gangs, usually referred to as bandits, have intensified across northwest Nigeria in recent years. Four school kidnappings since December have provoked nationwide outrage. Some 39 students, including a pregnant woman, are still missing from Thursday’s abduction from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, in northwest Nigeria. Samuel Aruwan, Kaduna state commissioner of internal security and home affairs, said police, army and others had repelled attacks on another school and … Continue reading Armed men attack another Nigerian school, as 39 students still missing

A group of nearly 300 girls who were kidnapped from a school in north-western Nigeria last week have been released, a local official says. The girls were abducted by unidentified gunmen from their boarding school in Jangebe, Zamfara state, on Friday and taken to a forest, police said, but on Monday, the state’s governor said the group had been freed and the girls were now safe. Dozens of the girls were seen gathered at a government building in Zamfara. “It gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students… from captivity”, Governor Bello Matawalle wrote on Twitter. “This … Continue reading State Of Insecurity: Hundreds of girls released by gunmen in Nigeria

Gunmen in Nigeria have released 42 people, including 27 students, who were kidnapped from a boarding school last week in the north-central state of Niger, the state’s governor said. Their release comes just a day after a separate raid on a school in Nigeria’s Zamfara state where gunmen seized more than 300 girls. Kidnappings for ransom by armed groups, many of whom carry guns and ride motorcycles, are common across many northern Nigerian states. Last week, 27 students, three staff and 12 members of their families were abducted by an armed gang who stormed the Government Science secondary school in … Continue reading Update: Kidnappers release 42 abducted from school in Nigeria

Gunmen killed 36 people in two attacks in northern Nigeria on Wednesday, a day after fighters fired rocket-propelled grenades amid worsening security in Africa’s most populous nation, officials and residents said. The series of attacks by armed bandits occurred over the past 48 hours with 18 people killed each in villages of Kaduna and Katsina states and several others injured. The assailants burned down houses, displacing the villagers. In a statement quoted by the Daily Post website, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs Samuel Aruwan said the attacks in that state followed an air operation by security … Continue reading Gunmen kill 36 in attacks in northern Nigeria

Gunmen have reportedly taken an unknown number of students and several teachers from a school in an attack on a school in central Nigeria. Students and teachers were abducted from a school in Niger state, Nigerian media reported on Wednesday. News agency AFP reported that “hundreds” were taken, citing security and official sources. The attack comes on the heels of another kidnapping at the end of last year, where 344 schoolboys were abducted by bandits, the attack took place at the Government Science College Kagara in Niger state, news broadcaster “Channels TV” reported. At least one student is believed to … Continue reading Breaking News: Students kidnapped in attack on school in Nigeria

At least six Malian soldiers have been killed in two “complex and simultaneous” attacks in Mali’s conflict-wracked centre, according to the military. The coordinated assault took place at about 3am (03:00 GMT) on Sunday in the villages of Boulkessi and Mondoro in the Mopti region, near the country’s border with Burkina Faso. “The provisional toll is six dead and 18 wounded” among the soldiers, the army said in a statement, adding that the attacks prompted a military response which left “around 30 dead on the terrorist side”. Some 40 motorcycles and a large amount of military gear were seized from … Continue reading Six Malian soldiers killed in ‘complex and simultaneous’ attacks