Militants kill at least 40 farmers in Nigeria’s Borno state
Maiduguri, Nigeria Reuters Suspected Islamist militants killed 40 farmers in an attack on the Dumba community in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno state on Sunday, a senior state official said on Monday. The militants were believed to belong to the armed group Boko Haram and its offshoot Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), who have been waging […]
France commemorates victims of Charlie Hebdo attacks 10 years on
Paris, France Reuters France on Tuesday commemorated the victims of the deadly assault on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine 10 years ago that began a spate of Islamist militant attacks on the country and stoked a debate on press freedoms that still rages today. Two masked al-Qaeda-linked gunmen with assault rifles stormed what were then […]
Over 20 civilians killed in central Mali village attacks
Bamako, Mali Reuters Suspected jihadists killed more than 20 people in a string of attacks on villages in central Mali’s insurgency-hit Mopti region on Friday, two local sources said. The unidentified assailants struck during the day and into the evening, ransacking and burning six villages in the Bandiagara area, the sources said on Saturday, speaking […]
West Africa bloc offers junta-led states six months to rethink exit as Niger says 39 civilians killed in militant attacks
Abuja, Nigeria Reuters Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will have a six-month grace period after their scheduled exit from West Africa’s main political and economic group next month during which the ECOWAS bloc will try to persuade them to stay, the bloc’s leaders agreed on Sunday. Nigeria’s President and Chairman of Economic Community of West […]
In Ghana, Sahel jihadis find refuge and supplies, sources say
Nairobi, Kenya/Accra, Jordan Reuters Islamist militants fighting in Burkina Faso are discreetly using Ghana’s north as a logistical and medical rear base to sustain their insurgency, seven sources told Reuters, a move that could help them expand their footprint in West Africa. The sources, who include Ghanaian security officials and regional diplomats, said Ghanaian authorities […]
Islamist insurgency: West Africa becomes global terrorism hotspot as Western forces leave
DAVID LEWIS, JESSICA DONATI and KAYLEE KANG, of Reuters, report…
After Burkina Faso massacre, outcry grows over junta’s silence
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Reuters One of the worst massacres in Burkina Faso’s history has provoked a fierce public outcry from victims’ relatives and religious leaders, piling pressure on the ruling junta of a country where spiralling insecurity has already stoked coups. Islamist militants gunned down scores on 24th August as residents of the north-central town […]
Indonesian Catholicism: Catholics face a shortage of priests. But one seminary is overwhelmed with applicants
NINIEK KARMINI, of Associated Press, reports from Maumere in Indonesia…
Survivors and families mark 20 years since Russia’s Beslan school siege
Beslan, Russia Reuters Mourners lit candles and placed icons on Sunday beneath photographs of the schoolchildren, teachers and parents who died 20 years ago when Islamist gunmen staged the deadliest militant attack in modern Russian history. At least 32 attackers linked to a separatist insurgency in neighbouring Chechnya took over the school in the small […]
Russian snipers kill Islamist hostage-takers to end prison siege
Reuters Russia’s security services shot dead four inmates on Friday who had taken hostages at a penal colony, fatally stabbed four of its staff and posted online videos describing themselves as Islamic State militants, officials said. “Snipers of the special forces of the Russian National Guard in the Volgograd region, with four precise shots, neutralised […]