At least six people were killed when suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked a town in northeast Nigeria, in the latest attack against vulnerable, isolated rural communities, the local government said on Monday.

Bukar Wakil Tawu, secretary of the Magumeri local government area, said about 20 people believed to be from the jihadist group attacked Jaddannam at about 21:00 (2000 GMT) on Friday.

“They killed six people and burnt almost the whole town. They also burnt livestock and food supplies from recent harvests,” he told AFP from the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, nearly 50km away.

“I went to the town yesterday (Sunday), where I met the poor residents. They are peasants who rely on subsistence farming and their livestock.

“They have now lost all their belongings. We are appealing to the government to come to their aid and for patrols to be intensified because the area is remote and it has relatively huge population.”

Eight years of conflict have left at least 20 000 people dead and more than 2.6 million homeless in northeast Nigeria but has also devastated infrastructure, including telecommunications, leaving communities virtually cut off.

Local residents had to travel to Maiduguri to report the attack. Recent weeks have seen an increase in Boko Haram activity in northeast Nigeria and the Far North region of neighbouring Cameroon after the end of the rainy season in September.

At least 20 people were killed in a series of raids and suicide bomb attacks in the space of a few days last month, while civilians were also killed when their vehicles hit landmines planted by the Islamists. Those deaths – and the latest in Jaddannam – underline the continued threat posed by Boko Haram, despite claims from the military and the government that the insurgency is nearing an end.

Boko Haram fighters loyal to factional leader Abu Mus’ab al-Barnawi have been known to operate in the Magumeri area. In July, 19 soldiers and 33 militia members were among 69 killed when Boko Haram ambushed a heavily-armed convoy of oil exploration workers.

Source: News24

The Nigerian military says it is investigating reports that one of the wives of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Boko Haram Takfiri group, has been killed in a recent airstrike.

“Efforts are ongoing to confirm the reported killing of Shekau’s wife, alongside other BHTs (Boko Haram terrorists),” said air force spokesman Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya on Tuesday, six days after an attack on Boko Haram militants near Urga in the Konduga area in Borno state.

Adesanya said the air raid on October 19 targeted “a large gathering of Boko Haram terrorists” at the Durwawa settlement. He added that the attack killed scores of militants on the ground and triggered a fire.

The official said that Shekau’s wife, identified as Fitdasi, was “reported to have been representing her husband in a coordinating meeting with other terrorists at the location of the airstrikes”.

Fitdasi was thought to be one of Shekau’s four wives. Nigerian army arrested another wife, Hassana Yakubu, in a raid in the northeastern city of Damaturu in 2012. She was released a year later along with the wives of several other top commanders of Boko Haram.

One of other wives of Shekau is a widow of Muhammad Yusuf, the founder and former leader of Boko Haram who died in custody in 2009.

Under Shekau’s leadership which began after Yusuf’s death, Boko Haram has led an insurgency in northern Nigeria and neighboring countries that has left around 20,000 people dead. Hundreds of thousands have also been displaced in the violence.

The Nigerian military claims its massive operations which began two years ago has made Boko Haram a spent force as the group has withdrawn from its major strongholds in Borno. However, the government still struggles to contain sporadic attacks that mostly target civilians in crowded places.

Source: Presstv

A triple bomb attack in northeastern Nigeria has left 14 people dead and more than a dozen others injured, authorities say.

The casualties occurred on Sunday evening, when three female bombers detonated their explosives in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.

“So far, we have 14 people killed and 18 injured in the triple suicide bombings last night,” said Ahmed Satomi, from the Borno state emergency management agency.

No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the deadly attack; however, an anonymous militia source said the blasts came “hours after reports of sighting of a lot of Boko Haram members outside the city.”

Last month, at least 15 people were killed after suspected members of the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group targeted an aid distribution point in Borno state.

The group claimed an attack on August 16 in Konduga, during which three female attackers blew up their explosives outside a camp for displaced persons. It killed at least 28 people and left more than 80 others injured.

Boko Haram has been largely pushed back out of its main strongholds in northern Nigeria, according to the country’s military and government. The group, however, is still active in its Sambisa Forest enclave in Borno state and launches sporadic attacks on civilians and security forces there.

The Nigerian military launched renewed counter-insurgency offensives after the end of the rainy season in northeastern Nigeria in September. Those offensives have clearly caused attacks by Boko Haram to drop, but the government warns that the group can still attack civilians at “soft” targets, including mosques, markets and camps for displaced people.

Thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced as a result of eight years of the Boko Haram insurgency, which has also affected Nigeria’s neighbors, including Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

Source: Presstv

The Comptroller-General of Immigration, Muhammad Babandede on Thursday commenced a two-day visit to immigration service formations in Cross River State, to evaluate the reported attacks on communities in the state by Cameroonian soldiers.

It was learnt that the CG would tour patrol bases and control posts bordering Cameroon to assess the situation on the ground following repeated invasions of border communities by the gendarmes, the latest of which occurred at Danare in Boki Local Government Area of the state.

The state Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Inuwa had said that six Nigerians were shot by gendarmes from Bodam community during the invasion on the Nigerian territory a few days ago. The victims, who were hospitalized, however survived the attack.

The Immigration Service Public Relations Officer, Sunday James said in a statement that Babandede would validate the reports from the operatives in the crisis area which would be presented to the Federal Government for further action.

He explained that the CG would also assess the readiness of operatives on the ground to ensure the safety of citizens and the preparedness of the commands around the Cameroonian border in checking influx of illegal migrants.

The NIS spokesman stated that Babandede admonished the NIS operatives to be diplomatic, professional, and where necessary midwife the Federal Government directive in managing the migratory issues in collaboration with other border security agencies.

He explained that the operatives were to enforce effective checks, data capturing, refusal of entry  where necessary and granting admission or entry in deserving cases. James noted that the Nigeria Immigration Service had the responsibility to ascertain the situation on the ground and validate reports from the field operatives on the issues involving the Cameroonian security forces and Nigerian nationals in the border communities.

“The Comptroller-General of Immigration would soon return to report his findings and draw up further line of action in line with his personal assessment of the situation;Meetings would also be held with stakeholders at Mumbai and other points in the course of his visit to the state,” the statement added.

It further said that the immigration boss paid a courtesy call on Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade  at the Government House.

Source: Punch Nigeria

Nigeria is going to try more than 2,300 suspected members of the Takfiri Boko Haram militant group in unprecedented mass trials behind closed doors.

The defendants, whose trials are to begin on Monday, have all been picked up and held in detention since the start of Boko Haram militancy eight years ago.

To date, just 13 people have been put on trial and only nine convicted for their links to the Takfiri group, according to official figures.

The most high-profile current case is that of Khalid Al-Barnawi, a leader of Boko Haram offshoot Ansaru, who is charged with the abduction and murder of 10 foreign nationals.

Nigeria’s Justice Ministry announced the start of the trials at the end of last month, saying four judges had been assigned and that defendants would have legal representation.

Some 1,670 detainees at a military base in Kainji, in the central state of Niger, will be tried first and will be followed by 651 others held at the Giwa barracks in the capital of the northeastern state of Borno State, Maiduguri.

The trials are seen as a positive step, as many of the detainees had been held in custody for years, without access to a lawyer or ever having appeared before a judge. Amnesty International said in a June 2015 report that more than 20,000 people had been arbitrarily arrested as part of the fight against Boko Haram.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected in 2015, has promised to look into repeated accusations of human rights violations, including by high-ranking officers.

At least two commissions of inquiry have been established but the army announced in June this year that no action would be taken against top brass accused by Amnesty.

Amnesty believes the mass trials of Boko Haram suspects were the result of international pressure on the Nigerian government.

Source: Presstv

At least 17 people drowned when a boat ferrying around 60 passengers capsized in northwest Nigeria, the National Emergency Management (NEMA) said on Wednesday.

The boat smashed into a tree trunk in the rain-swollen River Niger on Tuesday.

“So far 17 bodies have been removed from the water, 12 yesterday and another five this morning”, NEMA coordinator Suleiman Karim told AFP.

Another 17 passengers were rescued by emergency workers and local divers, Karim said.

“We are still searching for at least 26 people because the 60-passenger boat was full at the time of the accident”, he said.

The number on board may have been higher as ferries in the riverine region are usually overloaded, Karim said.

The boat had left Jilbabo village in Kebbi state and was heading to Tetebo village in neighboring Niger state in central Nigeria when the accident happened.

Capsizes are a frequent occurrence in Nigeria, where overcrowding is common and unscrupulous operators flout health and safety norms.

The accident rate typically rises in the May-September rainy season when rivers swell.

Last month 74 people were killed in three separate boat capsizes in northern Nigeria, according to emergency services.

In one instance 56 people drowned when an overloaded boat sank carrying 150 passengers in Kebbi state.

The boat was ferrying local traders from neighboring Niger Republic to a market in Nigeria.

(Photo by AFP)

Suspected Takfiri Boko Haram militants have killed at least 18 people in northeastern Nigeria near the border with Cameroon in the latest surge of lethal assaults by the terror outfit in the restive region, local sources say.
The deadly incident took place on Friday, when a group of knife-wielding terrorists launched a stabbing attack against people in Banki, a border town some 130 kilometers southeast of Maiduguri, the capital city of the northeastern state of Borno, said Modu Perobe, a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force, a regional vigilante group.

The death toll was also confirmed by Abor Ali, the leader of a local community. Boko Haram terrorists often launch deadly assaults against military convoys, unleash members with explosive vests and litter the surrounding roads with mines in the ravaged corner of the country’s northeast.

Last month, the Boko Haram militants killed at least 27 people in a number of rural areas in Borno, the epicenter of the eight-year-long conflict with the terror group. In the past few months, a number of bomb attacks by suspected members of Boko Haram have taken place in the capital of Borno state and its environs. Mosques, markets, camps for those displaced by the conflict in Nigeria and civilians have been targeted across the region.

The terror group has reportedly killed 190 people since June. In December 2016, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power the year before with a pledge to eradicate Boko Haram, announced that the army had “crushed” the terror group by retaking its last key bastion, deep inside the thick Sambisa Forest in Borno.

The group has, however, resorted to sporadic shooting and bombing attacks in the northeast of the African country, spreading panic among local residents. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly terrorist attacks in Nigeria since the beginning of its militancy in 2009, which has so far claimed the lives of at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.7 million others displaced.

The United Nations has warned that around 8.5 million people in the worst affected areas of northeastern Nigeria are now in need of humanitarian assistance. Back in February 2016, the Lake Chad Basin countries of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, together with a contingent from Benin, launched a campaign to confront the threat from Boko Haram in the region.

A civilian self-defense group says at least eight people are dead after female bombers attacked two displaced persons camps in northeastern Nigeria’s main city.

Spokesman Bello Danbatta tells The Associated Press that the attack started late Sunday night in Maiduguri and left another 15 people wounded.

The Nigeria-based extremist group Boko Haram often targets the city with bombers and increasingly has been using female ones.

Danbatta says one bomber sneaked into the Dalori camp and detonated, and two other attackers exploded on or near the camp’s perimeter fence.

Boko Haram’s eight-year militancy has killed more than 20,000 people, spilled into neighboring countries and created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.

(Source: AP)

Nigeria’s air force accidentally attacked a refugee camp in January because the site was not marked in its maps, the military told the Reuters news agency.

Reuters adds that the investigation into the mistake found that the air force saw people gatehring in the area on satellite footage and assumed they were Boko Haram Islamist militants.

An official told the BBC at the time that 115 people were killed by the air attack on the camp in Rann which the army mistook for a base for Boko Haram militants.

All humanitarian sites should be marked on military maps in future, the investigators said.

Source: BBC

At least 33 people have been killed in clashes between cattle herders and farmers in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna state, a police chief says. Two days of violence between herders and farmers erupted on Sunday in Kajuru village, 50 kilometers outside the city of Kaduna, state police commissioner Agyole Abeh told AFP on Thursday.

“A total of 33 people were killed in the violence between Fulani herdsmen and farmers,” said Abeh. “The violence started when some villagers attacked a young Fulani man and his father, which led to the death of the young man after he was admitted in hospital.” The victim’s kinsmen gathered from nearby settlements and launched a reprisal attack on the village, killing six men, said Abeh.

In response, the youth from the farming communities “mobilized and went into the bush attacking and burning Fulani settlements they could find”, he added. “Our men were contacted but before they could deploy, the attackers had killed 26 people, mostly women and children and injured several others.”

Security personnel have since been deployed to the area to maintain peace. Nigeria’s Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has ordered reinforcements in Kaduna state following the clashes. He condemned what he said were the “needless deaths” and expressed frustration with the security challenges in southern Kaduna.

In a statement issued on Wednesday evening, Osinbajo promised to ensure that the “perpetrators of these dastardly acts” would be identified and brought to justice. Southern Kaduna has seen a spate of deadly clashes between the predominantly Christian farmers and Muslim Fulani herders, a historically nomadic people who graze their cattle on the land.

Originally, the clashes were over land and water rights disputes. But ethnicity and religion have been playing a larger role in the conflict after post-election violence in 2011 that saw hundreds of Muslims killed and forced to flee the area.

Without a national strategy in place to address the conflict, tensions between herdsmen and farmers have not subsided, and tit-for-tat killings have become common. Experts blame a heavy-handed, militarized response by the government, and incendiary comments from political and religious leaders for fanning the flames of animosity.

(Source: AFP)