jihadists - The African Mirror

Jun

2021

‘Child soldiers carried out Burkina Faso massacre’

A massacre in northeast Burkina Faso in which more than 130 people were killed this month was carried out mostly by children between the ages of 12 and 14, the United Nations and the government have revealed. Armed assailants raided the village of Solhan on the evening of June 4, opened fire on residents and burned homes. It was the worst attack in years in an area plagued by jihadists linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda. Government spokesman Ousseni Tamboura said the majority of the attackers were children, prompting condemnation from the U.N. "We strongly condemn the recruitment of…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Morocco sees Sahel jihadists as magnet for local cells

NEWS

JIHADIST groups in the nearby Sahel region, which recruit and train their followers online, represent Morocco's biggest militant threat, the head of its counterterrorism agency said. Although Morocco has had only one major attack over the past decade - the 2018 killing of two Scandinavian tourists - its location "makes it a target for the Sahel groups" said Haboub Cherkaoui. "The terrorist threat persists as long as there are groups that recruit and train their followers online including Islamic State in the greater Sahara," he told Reuters in an interview. Since it was set up in 2015, Cherkaoui's Central Bureau…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

U.N. urges Mozambique to investigate reported massacres, beheadings

NEWS

THE United Nations has called on Mozambique to investigate reports that militants had massacred villagers and beheaded women and children in a restive northern region. As many as 50 people have died in recent days in attacks by fighters linked to Islamic State, local media including Mediafax and The Pinnacle News have reported. Violence had surged this year in Cabo Delgado - a province that borders Tanzania and is the site of a multi-billion dollar natural gas project - alarming governments across southern Africa. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for an investigation in a statement late on Tuesday. UN Secretary-General…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Mali frees scores of jihadists amid speculations of prisoner swap

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER MALIAN authorities have released over one hundred alleged or convicted jihadists in a move which may facilitate the liberation of hostages. The jihadists had been freed early Tuesday and over the week-end from prisons located in the centre and north of the country. According to the Malian Association for Human Rights, they were held in detention centres in the town of Mopti and the capital, Bamako. Reports indicate that the prisoners were flown into the central town of Niono and Tessalit, a town bordering Algeria. According to Radio France International’s correspondent in Mali, witnesses saw them get…