International

More than 130 kidnapped Nigerian schoolchildren released

By Laurie CHURCHMAN ABUJA, March 24, 2024 (AFP) – More than 130 schoolchildren seized by gunmen in a mass kidnapping in northwestern Nigeria earlier this month were released unharmed on Sunday, officials and the army said. The kidnapping in Kuriga, Kaduna state on March 7 was one of the biggest such attacks in years and prompted a national outcry over insecurity. Teachers and residents previously said around 280 pupils were kidnapped, but the army said […]

Kyiv and Ukraine’s Lviv region come under Russian air attack

KYIV, Ukraine, March 24, 2024 (AFP) – Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and the western region of Lviv came under a “massive” Russian air attack early Sunday, officials said, and Polish forces were also placed on heightened readiness. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with Sunday’s strikes also coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske west of Bakhmut. A militant attack […]

President Putin vows retribution for deadly concert hall attack

MOSCOW, March 24, 2024 (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to punish those behind the “barbaric terrorist attack” on a Moscow concert hall that killed more than 130, saying four gunmen trying to flee to Ukraine had been arrested. Kyiv has strongly denied any connection, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accusing Putin of trying to shift the blame onto them. Putin, in his first public remarks on the attack, made no reference to a […]

Mexican forces search for 24 possible kidnapping victims

CULIACÁN, Mexico, March 24, 2024 (AFP) – Mexican authorities were searching Saturday for two dozen people in Sinaloa state reported to have been kidnapped along with more than 40 others who have since been found alive. The governor of the coastal state in northwest Mexico — home to the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel — had said earlier Saturday that 18 people had been found out of 25 missing, and did not explain the significant jump […]

Islamic State posts video of Moscow concert hall attack

PARIS, March 24, 2024 (AFP) – A video apparently shot by gunmen who carried out the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall has been posted on social media accounts typically used by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), according to the SITE Intelligence Group. The video, which lasts a minute and a half, shows several individuals with blurred faces and garbled voices, armed with assault rifles and knives. They appear to be the lobby […]

Two Rohingya found dead at sea after Indonesia ends survivor search

ACEH JAYA, Indonesia, March 23, 2024 (AFP) – The bodies of two Rohingya refugees were retrieved and several more were spotted at sea Saturday, local rescuers said, days after a wooden boat believed to be carrying around 150 people capsized, leaving many missing or dead. The mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar, and thousands risk their lives each year on long and expensive sea journeys, often in flimsy boats, to try to […]

World leaders condemn Russian concert hall attack

PARIS, March 23, 2024 (AFP) – World leaders denounced a deadly attack by gunmen on a Moscow concert hall that killed more than 90 people and wounded at least another 100. Attackers dressed in camouflage uniforms entered the Crocus City venue before the start of a rock concert on Friday, opened fire on the audience and threw flammable liquid, according to a journalist for the RIA Novosti news agency at the scene. The assault was […]

Afghan IS branch top suspect in Moscow attack

By Didier LAURAS PARIS, March 23, 2024 (AFP) – The Islamic State group (IS) has claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed more than 100 people — terrorism experts say its Afghan branch is likely responsible. Since the fundamentalist Taliban took over Kabul, the ISKP — the Afghan branch of IS — has managed to poach members from its rival movement and has repeatedly shown off its will and capability […]

Russia arrests concert hall gunmen as death toll rises to 115

MOSCOW, March 23, 2024 (AFP) – Russia on Saturday said it had arrested 11 people — including four gunmen — over the attack on a Moscow concert hall claimed by the Islamic State, as the death toll rose to 115. Russian President Vladimir Putin was yet to comment publicly on the attack and Moscow has not addressed the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility, even as some lawmakers pointed to a possible Ukraine connection. Camouflaged gunmen […]

Venezuela MPs approve creation of state in disputed Essequibo

  CARACAS, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – Venezuela’s parliament has approved a law creating a federal state in the disputed oil-rich area of Essequibo across the border in Guyana, which on Friday slammed a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty. Caracas has long laid claim to Essequibo, which makes up about two-thirds of Guyana’s territory, but started taking active steps to retrieve the land after massive offshore oil deposits were discovered there in 2015. Lawmakers unanimously […]

Gun attack at Moscow concert leaves more than 60 dead

KRASNOGORSK, Russia, March 23, 2024 (AFP) – Gunmen who opened fire at a Moscow concert hall killed more than 60 people and wounded over 100 while sparking an inferno, authorities said Saturday, with the Islamic State group claiming responsibility. Attackers dressed in camouflage uniforms entered the building on Friday, opened fire and threw a grenade or incendiary bomb, according to a journalist for the RIA Novosti news agency at the scene. Fire quickly spread through […]