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Tag: boko haram

  • Boko Haram to dominate Buhari, Obama’s July meeting in US

    Boko Haram to dominate Buhari, Obama’s July meeting in US

    The issue of insecurity to dominate discussion when President Muhammadu Buhari visit the United states next month.

    Buhari is expected to be a guest to his United States (US) counterpart, Barack Obama on July 20th, 2015.

    The visit is at the instance of US government.

    According to a press release issued by the US embassy in Abuja, the meeting would seek to advance a holistic, regional approach to combating Boko Haram.

    Also to be discussed is Nigeria’s efforts to advance far reaching economic and political reforms that will help unlock its full potential as a regional and global leader.

    The visit, the statement further stated, will underscore US longstanding friendship with Nigeria.

    He said: “The visit will underscore the United States’ longstanding friendship with Nigeria, our commitment to strengthening and expanding our partnership with Nigeria’s new government, and our support for the Nigerian people following their historic democratic elections and peaceful transfer of power.

    “President Obama looks forward to discussing with President Buhari our many shared priorities including U.S.-Nigeria cooperation to advance a holistic, regional approach to combating Boko Haram, as well as Nigeria’s efforts to advance important economic and political reforms that will help unlock its full potential as a regional and global leader.

    “In addition to hosting President Buhari at the White House, the United States will welcome President Buhari’s senior advisors for consultations with U.S. counterparts and other events aimed at building on the strong U.S.-Nigeria relationship.”

  • 15 Boko Haram fighters killed, 20 arrested in Niger

    15 Boko Haram fighters killed, 20 arrested in Niger

    Fifteen Boko Haram fighters were killed and 20 others arrested by the Nigerien Defense and Security Forces (FDS) during clashes that occurred between June 18 to 23 in Niger’s Diffa region near the Nigerian border.

    An official source said Thursday that following the attack carried out on June 17 in Niger’s Gueskerou commune by the Islamist sect, killing 38 civilians, FDS launched ground and air operations in the area.

    The spokesman for Niger’s Defense Ministry, Moustapha Ledru, said 15 terrorists had been killed, 20 others arrested, one armoured vehicle recovered and 20 motorcycles destroyed during the operation.

    No injuries were reported on the part of the army, the statement by the defense ministry’s spokesman said.

    The statement quoted Niger’s National Defense Minister, Karidjo Mahamadou, as hailing the FDS for the brilliant operation against the terrorists and encouraged them to continue with the fight to restore peace and security.

    For over three months, Niger, just like other countries in the Lake Chad Basin, has come under deadly attacks from Boko Haram, leaving tens of civilians and soldiers dead.

    Nigerien and Chadian forces are currently engaged in a large scale operation against Boko Haram sect to secure Lake Chad basin and stop further attacks in Nigerien regions of Diffa and Bosso.

  • U.S. condemns latest Boko Haram attacks in Borno

     United States (US) has reiterated it’s continued support for Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram in the North East.

    This pledge came as US strongly condemned the recent attacks by the sect killing about 40 persons  in Borno state in the last one week.

    In a Press Statement by John Kirby U.S. Department of State Spokesperson also urged the government of Nigeria to take steps to secure and govern liberated areas by filling in behind military successes with police and civilian administration.

    He stated: “We offer our deepest sympathy and condolences to the families and friends of the victims of recent attacks in Borno State, attacks that resulted in more than 40 deaths.  We condemn in the strongest terms the continued and widespread violence inflicted by Boko Haram on innocent men, women, and children in Nigeria.  Those responsible must be held accountable.

    “These latest attacks serve as a reminder that despite progress on the battlefield, Boko Haram remains capable of deadly and destabilizing acts of terrorism.  We commend the efforts by the Nigerian military, as well as the militaries of Chad, Niger, and Cameroon for the gains they have made fighting Boko Haram.  We encourage the government of Nigeria to take steps to secure and govern liberated areas by filling in behind military successes with police and civilian administration.

    “The United States stands with Nigeria in the face of this threat.  We will continue to take steps to increase our support for their efforts.”

  • Boko Haram kills 40 in Borno

    Boko Haram kills 40 in Borno

    Boko Haram insurgents have killed 40 people at Debiro and Hauwul villages in Borno State, witnesses and security sources have said.

    The two villages reportedly came under attacks on Monday and Tuesday.

    The son of the District Head,   Mallam Yakubu Dabiro, said the terrorists torched houses and vehicles and shot dead people.

    Our correspondent learnt that when the militants arrived at the villages at night, they killed 17 people and injured many, only to return when the surviving residents were burying their relations, killing more people.

    Usman Malgana, who spoke with our correspondent at the General Hospital in Biu, confirmed that they lost 26 people, while 20 are receiving treatment at the hospital.

    Some of the residents, who escaped from the attack, said the militias unleashed terror, killing people with guns and knives.

    They said the Boko Haram insurgents carted away the foodstuffs they seized from farmers and traders.

    One of the fleeing residents, Danlamin Shehu, told our reporter on the phone from his hideout at Tashan-Alede village that the gunmen came from all directions, which caused confusion.

    He said: “They shot dead people and also killed residents with knives, cutting their throats.

    “I can’t say if more people have died, but according to a local vigilance group, over 20 people including women and children were brutally killed.”

    Another escapee from Debiro said: “It was like they came with double mission, which was to kill us and loot our foodstuffs.”

    A security officer, who preferred anonymity, confirmed the attacks.

    He said: “Debiro village was attacked yesterday and this morning. The one in Biu was attacked in the afternoon. About 20 persons were killed and many were injured.

    “The attack on the second village, which is in Hawul Local Government, occurred on Tuesday morning. It was deadlier that the first attack, as more people were killed. They killed more people here in Hawul because they met residents sleeping. Many houses were burnt. The terrorists left with three vehicles belonging to the victims. I am sure over 40 people died in the attacks on the two villages.”

  • Boko Haram kill 40 in two Borno villages

    Boko Haram kill 40 in two Borno villages

    No fewer than 40 villagers were murdered on Monday when Boko Haram terrorists attacked two villages in Borno state, witnesses and security sources have confirmed.

    The two villages Debiro both share a geographical division between Hauwul Local Government and Biu Local government areas both in Borno state came under spate attacks on Monday and Tuesday.

    The son of the District Head Mallam Yakubu Dabiro narrated that the suspected terrorists burnt down houses and vehicles and shot people at sight before leaving without confrontation.

    Our Correspondent gathered that, when the militants arrived the village in the night, they initially shot and killed 17 people before injuring many others. They reportedly returned again when surviving residents were burying their dead ones to kill many more.

    Usman Malgana who spoke with our Correspondent from the General Hospital in Biu, confirmed that they lost 26 people, while 20 are currently receiving treatment at the hospital with doctors battling to save their lives.

    Some of the lucky residents that escaped the attack in the first village said that the attackers came to the town and unleashed terror freely on the innocent villagers using their guns and knives, shooting and sliting the throats of the unlucky ones that couldn’t escape.

    The Boko Haram terrorists had also burnt down homes after loading their vehicles with food items from fleeing shop owners leaving un-challenged.

  • Boko Haram: Buhari to visit Cameroon after Ramadan

    Boko Haram: Buhari to visit Cameroon after Ramadan

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday accepted an invitation from President Paul Biya to visit Cameroon at his earliest convenience for talks on the intensification of cooperation between Nigeria and neighbouring countries in the war against Boko Haram and terrorism.

    Receiving the invitation from Mr. Sadi Rene Emmanuel, the Cameroonian Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, President Buhari said he will visit Cameroon for the high-level talks after the end of the Ramadan fast.

    Buhari, who said he was putting his experience as a former soldier to good use in the war against Boko Haram, re-emphasized that greater regional and international cooperation was needed to end the sect’s atrocities.

    The President, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, commended the efforts of all regional governments, including Cameroon to support Nigeria in the war against Boko Haram.

    But he called for even greater collaboration among the nations.

    He said: “I am happy that the President has sent you. As you must have observed, I was in Niger and Chad over this issue. I planned to be in Cameroon afterwards, but I received an invitation to attend the Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Germany.

    “I had to attend the meeting because Boko Haram has been internationalized and it was part of the discussions there,” he told Mr. Emmanuel.

    The Special Envoy assured President Buhari of the Cameroonian leader’s “fraternity, sympathy and brotherly commitment” to working with Nigeria to end the Boko Haram insurgency.

    “Together, we will reinforce our efforts,  eradicate the scourge of terrorism and look forward to better things,’’ he stated

     

  • Chad to round up beggars, foreigners after Boko Haram attack

    Chad said on Friday it planned to round up beggars and some foreigners as part of a security clamp-down, days after two suicide attacks on its capital blamed on the Boko Haram sect.

    The apparently coordinated blasts in two police offices on Monday killed 34 people and injured dozens in the largest attack of its kind in the Central African nation, Reuters says.

    Chad’s Prime Minister, Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet, said the detained beggars and foreigners would be held in a centre in Baga Sola, a town near Lake Chad, close to the Nigerian border. He did not go into further detail on how the round-up would improve security or the nationality of the foreigners.

    Deubet also said that boating and fishing would be banned on parts of the River Chari that flows into the Lake Chad.

    Boko Haram militants have launched several deadly attacks around the lake, often arriving in motorised canoes from Nigeria.

    For its part, Cameroon this week closed the Ngueli Border Bridge at Kousseri town that joins its Far North region with the southwestern outskirts of the Chadian capital, state radio in the area said.

    The bridge is a vital commercial route and businesses have suffered as a result of the closure decision taken in the wake of the suicide attack, the radio said.

    Chad has played a leading role in helping Nigerian forces win back territory from Boko Haram, which has fought for six years to carve out an Islamist caliphate in Nigeria’s northeast and attacked Niger and Cameroon.

    Chad, whose capital is a command centre for a regional anti-Boko Haram task force, has already made at least five arrests. It banned religious head-to-toe burqas this week on the grounds that they might be used as camouflage by militants, though residents said people on the streets of N’Djamena have continued wearing them.

  • Boko Haram, IS, others increased global terror in 2014 – U.S

    Boko Haram, IS, others increased global terror in 2014 – U.S

    Boko Haram and extremists in Iraq and Afghanistan unleashed a savage rise in violence between 2013 and 2014, according to new statistics released by the State Department on Friday.

    Attacks largely at the hands of the Islamic State and Boko Haram raised the number of terror acts by more than a third, nearly doubled the number of deaths and nearly tripled the number of kidnappings.

    The figures contained in the department’s annual global terrorism report said that nearly 33,000 people were killed in almost 13,500 terrorist attacks around the world last year.

    That’s up from just over 18,000 deaths in nearly 10,000 attacks in 2013, it said.

    24 Americans were killed by extremists in 2014, the report said, while abductions soared from 3,137 in 2013 to 9,428 in 2014.

    The report attributed the rise in attacks to increased terror activity in Iraq, Afghanistan and Nigeria and the sharp spike in deaths to a growth in exceptionally lethal attacks in those countries and elsewhere.

    Terror attacks took place in 95 countries in 2014, but were concentrated in the Mideast, South Asia and West Africa. Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria accounted for more than 60 percent of the attacks and, if Syria is included, roughly 80 percent of the fatalities, the report found.

    There were 20 attacks that killed more than 100 people each in 2014, compared to just two in 2013, according to the figures that were compiled for the State Department by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland.

    Among the 20 mass casualty attacks in 2014 were the December attack by the Pakistani Taliban on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan that killed at least 150 people and the June attack by Islamic State militants on a prison in Mosul, Iraq, in which 670 Shiite prisoners died.

    At the end of 2014, the prison attack was the deadliest terrorist operation in the world since September 11, 2001, according to the report.

  • Sect kills 40 in attack on Niger Republic villages

    Sect kills 40 in attack on Niger Republic villages

    Boko Haram attacked and killed about 40 people in two villages in Niger Republic , Governor of that country’s Diffa Region Yakouba Soumana Goah has said.

    According to him, the attackers pillaged stores and burned homes before withdrawing from the villages located near the border with Nigeria.

    He added that the army went after the attackers.

    Boko Haram last attacked Niger in April and killed no fewer than 58 people.

    Boko Haram took control of a large swath of northeast Nigeria until a multinational force this year forced them out of towns and villages but it still engages in cross-border hit and run attacks

  • Military approach can’t end insurgency – Akinrinade

    Military approach can’t end insurgency – Akinrinade

    A former Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. General Alani Akinrinade (rtd), has said only military approach cannot end the bloody Boko Haram insurgency.

    Akinrinade spoke in Kaduna while chairing the maiden seminar of a security resource centre, Gusau Institute, founded by the immediate past Minister of Defence, Gen. Aliyu Gusau (rtd).

    He said, “Nigerians are looking unto the military to end insurgency, but military alone could not be a solution to the perennial and bloody Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, particularly in the Northeast part of the country.”

    While he charged the management of Gusau institute to direct its expertise towards finding lasting solution to the insurgency, the retired army General said politicians and economists have the magic wand to end the crisis.

    Akinrinade added:  “Let me say a word or two again about Boko Haram, I have heard several discussions about Boko Haram from many people. I must say that I am lost about the causes of Boko Haram and I am sure most of our country men are also lost. I want to charge this institute to take this matter very seriously.

    “But I am not aware of any military doctrine that has been put down that has addressed effectively guerrilla warfare, which is easier. But this kind of insurgency we are now having in our hands has never been addressed by any military doctrine successfully.

    “So, I am aware that military solution is not going to be the end of Boko Haram.

    “So the ball is in the court of politicians, economists and those that have human sympathy that could bring solution to this crisis.”