Tag Archives: Islamists

Paris, France | AFP |  French forces have killed the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Algerian Abdelmalek Droukdel, in northern Mali, France’s defence minister said. Droukdel was killed on Thursday near the Algerian border, where the group has bases from which it has carried out attacks and abductions of …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | At least three Nigerian soldiers and a militiaman were killed in a Boko Haram ambush on the edge of Sambisa forest near the border with Cameroon, military and militia sources told AFP Saturday. The ambush occurred as troops returned to base late Friday in the town …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Five police officers were killed Tuesday when their patrol was ambushed by suspected Shabaab Islamists in eastern Kenya, police said, the latest in a string of similar attacks in the area. The attack occurred in Ijara, in the county of Garissa, and led to a firefight …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Dozens of people were killed on Tuesday when an air force jet accidentally bombarded a camp in northeast Nigeria for those made homeless by Boko Haram Islamists. The incident happened at about 9:00 am (0800 GMT) in Rann, in the far north of Borno state, …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria has recently trumpeted a major victory in its battle against Boko Haram, claiming that its army has routed the jihadists from their forest bastion, but the war against them is far from over. After years of devastating battles and a recent surge in attacks, …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian troops have rescued 1,880 civilians from a Boko Haram redoubt in the restive northeast in the past week and arrested hundreds of insurgents, a military commander said on Wednesday. The Sambisa forest, covering about 1,300 square kilometres (500 square miles), is a stronghold of …

Paris, France | AFP | A French soldier deployed in a counter-terrorism force in Mali died overnight from injuries sustained in a mine blast, the defence ministry said Saturday. The jihadist group Ansar Dine, which has ties to Al-Qaeda, claimed the attack on social media, saying it took place some …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Saturday Nigerian troops on Saturday rescued another of the missing Chibok schoolgirls seized by Boko Haram Islamists, in an operation near the border with Cameroon, a spokesman said. The girl, found along with her baby son, was one of the more than 200 schoolgirls taken …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP |  Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Nigerian officials of sexually exploiting women and girls living in camps for victims of Boko Haram in the war-torn northeast. HRW said in July it documented 43 cases of women and girls in seven ‘internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps …

Washington, United States | AFP | Recruits into the Islamic State group are better educated than their average countryman, contrary to popular belief, according to a new World Bank study. Moreover, those offering to become suicide bombers ranked on average in the more educated group, said the newly released study …