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Somalia’s al Shabaab attacks base in town it had lost, kills seven

Somalia’s al Shabaab attacks base in town it had lost, kills seven

Islamist al Shabaab militants killed at least seven soldiers at a Somali military base in a town re-captured by the government, the information ministry and militant group said. The attack was eventually repelled, an officer at the base in the central Somali town of Galcad told Reuters. He said the dead included the base's deputy commander, who was part of a U.S.-trained unit stationed there. The attack underscores the formidable threat al Shabaab poses for Somalia's military, even after a government offensive launched last year scored significant success against the al Qaeda-allied militants. Al Shabaab fighters stormed the Galcad base…
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Uganda and Congo attack Islamist militia in joint operation

Uganda and Congo attack Islamist militia in joint operation

ERIKAS MWISI KAMBALE UGANDA and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have mounted air and artillery strikes in a joint operation in eastern Congo against an Islamic State-linked militia, both countries said. Three witnesses also said that Ugandan troops crossed the border into DRC at Nobili in the afternoon. DRC's government spokesman Patrick Muyaya denied Ugandan soldiers had crossed but Ugandan army spokeswoman Flavia Byekwaso said they had. The strikes targeted the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia, which has been based in the DRC since the late 1990s and is blamed for killing hundreds of villagers in raids after it pledged…
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Congo arrests Middle Eastern national for links to Islamist militia

Congo arrests Middle Eastern national for links to Islamist militia

DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo has arrested a Middle Eastern national for alleged ties to an Islamist militia in the east of DRC, potentially the first time a non-African fighter has been found working with the group. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist armed group led by Ugandans, has been blamed for dozens of massacres with hatchets and firearms in the last three years, mostly in remote villages. In 2019 the ADF's leadership pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS), which has in turn claimed dozens of the ADF's attacks, although United Nations experts say they have not found conclusive evidence…
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LGBT+ Afghans left behind say world turned its back on them

LGBT+ Afghans left behind say world turned its back on them

HUGO GREENHALGH LGBT+ Afghans said on Friday they felt abandoned by the international community as the closure of Kabul airport to passengers this week shattered their hopes of fleeing Taliban rule. Many LGBT+ people have gone into hiding since the Islamist militia seized power last month, fearing a return to the group's harsh 1996-2001 rule when it enforced a radical form of sharia or Islamic law. "(Foreign governments) should have helped us to get out of here," one gay student said by phone from Kabul, after trying unsuccessfully to board one of the last evacuation flights out of the country last week.…
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Double blasts: DRC blames Islamist militia

Double blasts: DRC blames Islamist militia

ERIKAS MWISI KAMBALE DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo's army said an Islamist militia which claims links to Islamic State (IS) was responsible for two blasts in the eastern city of Beni, as the mayor closed local schools, churches and markets in a tightening of security. The army said Sunday's attacks bore the signature of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which has used improvised explosive devices in the past. No one was killed in the two incidents apart from the suspected bomber in the second blast, after an explosive device he was carrying went off at a busy intersection. Another explosive device…
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No evidence of Islamic State control over militia

No evidence of Islamic State control over militia

UNITED Nations experts say they had been unable to find evidence of direct support by Islamic State for an Islamist militia in eastern Congo, which was blacklisted in March by Washington as a terrorist group. Experts on Central Africa have been debating whether the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), blamed for increasing violence over the past two years in eastern Congo, has genuine links with the Islamic State group based in the Middle East, sometimes known as ISIS or ISIL. The ADF has publicly aligned itself with Islamic State, which in turn has claimed responsibility for some of its attacks. The…
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Female peacekeeper killed in DRC

Female peacekeeper killed in DRC

A female peacekeeper from Malawi was killed in an attack by an Islamist militia in eastern Congo's North Kivu province yesterday, the U.N. and the Malawian government said. A local civil rights group said separately that fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist armed group with Ugandan origins, attacked the village of Kilia, around 18km southeast of Beni in the province, killing at least five people. It was not clear if that figure included the peacekeeper. "A peacekeeper was killed in an attack by alleged ADF in the Beni region," said MONUSCO, the U.N. peacekeeping mission, which has…
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Suspected Islamists kill 10 people in DRC

ERIKAS MWISI KAMBALE and EMMA FARGE MEN armed with knives, machetes and pick-axes killed 10 people in an overnight attack on a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a witness and a local rights group said yesterday, blaming an Islamist militia. Killings by armed groups more than doubled last year, according to the United Nations. In late 2019 the Congo army began a campaign to eliminate the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan militia that has been operating in the vast country since the 1990s. The ADF has responded with a rash of retaliatory massacres of civilians. "We are…
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