Islamist insurgents - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

Nigerian rights body ends probe into abortion allegations against military

NIGERIA'S human rights commission said on Tuesday it had concluded hearings into an investigation of a Reuters report that the military ran a secret abortion programme in its fight against Islamist insurgents in the northeast. The Nigerian military has previously said that the report was not true. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which is appointed by the government, established a special panel in February 2023 to investigate the allegations and has been conducting hearings in the capital Abuja and in northeastern Borno state. NHRC said the hearings had ended, with Borno's attorney general and the military addressing the panel on Tuesday. The commission…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

Suspected insurgents kidnap 50 people in northeast Nigeria

NEWS

Suspected Islamist insurgents kidnapped 50 people, mostly women, in northeastern Nigeria this week, local officials and a resident said, the latest mass abduction by fighters who have waged an insurgency for more than a decade. Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters have mainly operated in Borno state in the northeast, targeting security forces and civilians, in the process killing and displacing tens of thousands of people. Advertisement · Scroll to continue The latest incident took place on Monday in the remote Gamboru area, which shares a border with Chad and Cameroon, said an official of the…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

US determined to remain strong security partner for Nigeria

NEWS

SECRETARY of State Antony Blinken said the United States is determined to remain a strong security partner for Nigeria, whose military is backed by the U.S., Britain and other allies in a long war against Islamist insurgents. Blinken also discussed challenges to democracy and security in the region during his meeting on Tuesday with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in a visit that comes after last year's coup in neighbouring Niger, one of a series of coups or attempted power grabs over the past few years in West and Central Africa. "The United States is determined to be and remain a…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigerian jet kills civilians in pursuit of militants

NEWS

NINE people were killed and 23 injured in a village in Nigeria's northeastern Yobe State that was hit by an airstrike by the Nigerian air force, which is battling Islamist insurgents in the area, the state's emergency response agency has announced. The air force said earlier it may have killed and injured civilians while pursuing insurgents in Yobe and that it was investigating the incident. Earlier, an air force spokesman said a fighter jet responded to intelligence on suspicious movements of suspected insurgents from either the Boko Haram group or ISWAP on Wednesday and fired "some probing shots", killing and…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

At least six Cameroonian soldiers killed in raid by Islamist insurgents

NEWS

AT least six Cameroonian soldiers were killed and four wounded during an attack by Islamist insurgents on an army outpost in the far north of the country, according to the state broadcaster CRTV. The attack is the deadliest in recent months in northern Cameroon, which alongside neighbouring Nigeria and Chad, has been battling the Boko Haram militant group for years and, more recently, militants linked to Islamic State. "Our outpost in Sagme was attacked this morning around 4 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) by a horde of assailants. There were six to seven vehicles and motorcycles and some were on…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Dispute over extension of Somali presidential term

NEWS

ABDI SHEIKH SOMALIA’S lower house of parliament voted on Monday to extend the president's term for another two years but the Senate rejected it - a standoff deepening divisions that analysts say are hampering the fight against Islamist insurgents. The chamber's speaker said the measure extending President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed four-year year term, which had expired in February, would let the country prepare for direct elections. But the opposition said the move was legally dubious and accused the lawmakers of political chicanery. The Senate rejected the move. "The decision directly violated the rules of governance and the constitutional law of…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Fighting in Moz gas town rages for 2nd day

NEWS

HELICOPTER gunships exchanged fire with suspected Islamist insurgents as fighting raged for a second day around a gas hub town in northern Mozambique, a security source and a diplomat said. The government said security forces were working to restore order in Palma, which is adjacent to gas projects worth $60 billion led by companies including Total after it came under a three-pronged attack on Wednesday. The attack, in a province that has since 2017 been targeted by Islamist insurgents with links to Islamic State, began hours after the French oil major said it would resume work on the project after…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria names new military chiefs

NEWS

NIGERIAN President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed a new military high command, after years of mounting criticism over spreading violence by Islamist insurgents and armed gangs. "President Buhari thanks the outgoing Service Chiefs for what he calls their 'overwhelming achievements in our efforts at bringing enduring peace to our dear country'," the presidency spokesman said. He told Reuters later that some of the chiefs had resigned while others retired. Leo Irabor was named to the powerful Chief of Defence Staff post, which oversees the main military branches, the presidency spokesman said, while I. Attahiru, A.Z. Gambo and I.O. Amao would command…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigerians flee Islamist insurgent attack

NEWS

GOVERNMENT troops and several hundred residents have been forced to flee after Islamist insurgents overran a town in northeast Nigeria in an attack claimed by Islamic State, security sources have said. The assault on Marte, which lies on Lake Chad in Borno state, came just two months after residents driven from their homes by Islamist attacks had returned to the town under a government programme. It underscores the precarious security situation in northeast Nigeria, where Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) are active, and the difficulties the government faces as it tries to return people displaced by…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Mali opposition leader and presidential hopeful Cisse dies

NEWS

THE long-time leader of Mali's opposition, Soumaila Cisse, has died at the age of 71, his spokesman said, two months after his release from lengthy captivity by Islamist insurgents. Cisse, a former finance minister who finished runner-up in the 2013 and 2018 presidential elections to Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, was considered among the favourites in a vote expected in early 2022 after Keita's overthrow in an August military coup. "I confirm that Soumaila died last night in Paris," his spokesman, Nouhoum Togo, told Reuters without providing further detail. French media reported that he had died of COVID-19. Cisse was kidnapped in…