NIAMEY, Niger (AFP) — Three soldiers and 14 attackers died in an assault earlier this week on an army camp in western Niger near the border with Mali, the defense minister said. Heavily armed “terrorists” in a dozen 4×4 vehicles led the attack early Monday morning on the military post in the West African country’s Tahoua region, he said. “After two hours of intense fighting, the vigorous response of our defence and security forces enabled […]
Tag: Boko Haram
Death toll in Nigeria Boko Haram funeral attack rises to 65
GAJIRAM, Nigeria (AFP) — An attack this weekend by Boko Haram fighters on a funeral in northeast Nigeria has left 65 people dead, almost triple the initial toll, a local official said Sunday. Dozens more bodies were discovered following the assault Saturday by gunmen on a village close to the regional capital Maiduguri. “It is 65 people dead and 10 injured,” local government chairman Muhammed Bulama said. Bulama said more than 20 people died in […]
Eight dead as gunmen storm French drilling camp in Niger
NIAMEY, Niger (AFP) — Seven local employees of a French drilling firm and a government official were killed in southeast Niger Thursday when suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed the compound where they were sleeping. The attack shattered months of relative calm in the Diffa region near the Lake Chad basin, a strategic area where the borders of four countries converge. The victims, all Nigerien, were shot dead at a site in Toumour, a village near […]
Boko Haram has abducted over 1,000 children in Nigeria since 2013: UNICEF
LAGOS, Nigeria (AFP) — As Nigeria prepares to mark the fourth anniversary of the Chibok kidnapping, UNICEF reported on Friday that over 1,000 children have been abducted by jihadists since 2013. “Since 2013, more than 1,000 children have been abducted by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, including 276 girls taken from their secondary school in the town of Chibok in 2014,” said UNICEF in a statement. “These repeated attacks against children in schools are unconscionable,” […]
18 killed in Boko Haram attack in Nigeria: emergency services
KANO, Nigeria (AFP) — At least 18 people were killed and 84 wounded when Boko Haram jihadists clashed with Nigerian soldiers near the northeastern city of Maiduguri overnight, the emergency services agency said on Monday, April 2. “So far we have recovered 18 dead bodies from the two villages Bale Shuwa and Bale Kura,” on the outskirts of Maiduguri, said the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). “The victims were killed while trying to escape the fight […]
More than 100 girls ‘missing’ after Boko Haram school attack
by Aminu Abubakar with Phil Hazlewood in Lagos © Agence France-Presse DAMATURU, Nigeria (AFP) — More than 100 girls were missing on Wednesday, two days after a Boko Haram attack on their school in northeast Nigeria that has raised fears of a repeat of the 2014 Chibok kidnapping that shocked the world. Islamist militants stormed the Government Girls Science Secondary School in Dapchi, Yobe state, on Monday evening. Locals initially said the girls and their teachers fled. […]
Nigeria releases more Boko Haram suspects
ABUJA, Nigeria (AFP) — Nigeria has freed another 51 Boko Haram suspects in the latest round of dropped cases for lack of evidence, the justice ministry said Monday. Over the course of last week, hundreds of suspected Boko Haram extremists appeared before a court at the Kainji military base in central Niger state. A total of 526 suspects have been released from custody after it was found there was not enough evidence to prosecute them, underscoring concerns […]
Chibok girls’ kidnapper jailed for 15 years
by Aminu Abubakar Agence France-Presse KANO, Nigeria (AFP) – A man involved in the 2014 kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in northeast Nigeria has been jailed for 15 years, the government confirmed on Tuesday. The conviction of Haruna Yahaya, 35, is the first in relation to the mass abduction, which triggered global outrage and sparked a worldwide campaign for the girls’ release. A total of 276 students were seized from the Government Girls Secondary […]
Teenage suicide bomber kills at least 50 in Nigeria mosque
by Aminu ABUBAKAR with Phil HAZLEWOOD in Lagos Agence France Presse KANO, Nigeria (AFP) — At least 50 people were killed on Tuesday when a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque in northeast Nigeria, police said, in an attack blamed on Boko Haram jihadists. The blast happened during early morning prayers at the Madina mosque in the Unguwar Shuwa area of Mubi, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) by road from the […]
5 children killed by ‘young girl’ suicide bomber in Cameroon
YAOUNDÈ, Cameroon (AFP) – Five children were killed Tuesday night and two others wounded by a suicide bomber described as a “young girl” in a northern region of Cameroon plagued by Boko Haram attacks, sources said Wednesday. “A suicide bomber blew herself up (on Tuesday) around 7.45 pm (1845 GMT)” in the village of Zamga, two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Nigerian border, said a security officer responsible for the zone, reached from the capital […]
Boko Haram kills six Nigerian soldiers in raid
KANO, Nigeria (AFP) – At least six soldiers were killed in heavy fighting when Boko Haram raided a military base and looted food from villagers in northeast Nigeria, the military and locals said on Wednesday. Jihadists in six pick-up trucks stormed the base in Sasawa village, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the Yobe state capital, Damaturu, at about 5:00 pm on Tuesday. Colonel Kayode Ogunsanya told AFP from Damaturu: “There was an attack by Boko Haram […]
Britain pledges £200M to help Nigeria fight Boko Haram
LAGOS, Nigeria (AFP) – Britain will give Nigeria aid worth £200 million over five years to help it cope with the brutal insurgency being waged by Boko Haram jihadists, the foreign ministry in London said Wednesday. Foreign Minister Boris Johnson visited Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s northeast Borno State and epicenter of the Boko Haram organization, to meet some of those involved in the fight. The Islamist militant group has increasingly used child suicide bombers […]
