In a story Oct. 23 about 83 missing Nigerian soldiers, The Associated Press erroneously quoted senior military officers. The story should have quoted Nigeria’s Premium Times newspaper citing senior military officers. A corrected version of the story is below: Some 83 Nigerian soldiers are missing in action since Boko Haram Islamic extremists attacked a remote … Read more
Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacked villagers in the village of Godogodo, Nigeria on October 15 with guns and machetes, burning down homes, killing more than 40 people and injuring dozens more. It was the second attack on the predominantly Christian village in as many months. The Morning Star News’ field reporter in Nigeria, Obed Minchakpu, spoke … Read more
After her husband was killed by a Boko Haram suicide bomber late last year, Hajjagana Mbasaru was forced to pull her children from school and rely on friends to feed them. Like other widows of civilians fighting the Islamic extremists in northern Nigeria, she spent long months waiting for any kind of government support. Finally, … Read more
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Some 83 Nigerian soldiers are missing in action since Boko Haram Islamic extremists attacked a remote military base in the northeast, senior army officers said Sunday. The soldiers were unable to fight back and fled because Boko Haram had superior fire power, the officers told The Associated Press, speaking on condition … Read more
The BBC Hausa Service has announced the winner of its first short-story competition aimed at women writers. Aisha Muhammad Sabitu’s story Sansanin’ Yan Gudun Hijira (meaning “Refugee Camp” in Hausa) beat off competition from more than 200 other stories. Ms Sabityu, who is from Katsina in Nigeria, says she was inspired to write the story … Read more
The 501 army recruits who were dismissed by the Ghana Armed Forces in 2015 are free to decide wherever they want to go, but the military will not reinstate them, Public Affairs Director of the GAF, Lt Col Eric Aggrey-Quashie, has said. In an interview with Adom FM, the convener of the dismissed recruits, Frank … Read more
Some 501 sacked Army recruits have threatened to join terrorist groups like ISIS or Boko Haram after what they say is unfair treatment after they were unceremoniously dumped out of boot camp. According to the recruits, even though some of their colleagues were found wanting by the instructors, they had never claimed the training was … Read more
Maroua (Cameroon) (AFP) – With his finger on the trigger, ready to fire his weapon in an instant, a policeman keeps an eye on people passing in the centre of Maroua, capital of Cameroon’s Far North region that has been a target of Boko Haram Islamists. It’s been more than a year since a string … Read more
N’Djamena (AFP) – Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadists have killed four Chadian soldiers in a cross-border raid in the volatile Lake Chad region, a security source told AFP on Sunday. “Around 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Saturday night, Boko Haram members attacked the Djoroye border post near the Niger border in the Lake Chad region killing … Read more
Islamic extremists have killed eight soldiers and wounded 17 in two attacks in northeastern Nigeria, the country’s military said Monday. The attacks bring the official toll to 10 troops killed and 24 wounded this past week after a lull during which the extremists confronted a leadership struggle. The Islamic State group’s West Africa Province claimed … Read more
Thirty-eight Boko Haram Islamist fighters have been killed during military search operations carried out by Niger and Chad troops in the Diffa region of southeast Niger this week, an official said Friday. Two soldiers were lightly wounded in the action and “on the enemy side; 38 terrorists killed,” Niger defence ministry spokesman Moustapha Ledru said … Read more
A few days before President Buhari showed up in Edo state to campaign for his party’s governorship candidate in the election that was originally slated for Saturday 10th September 2016, I was in a telephone conversation with a new buddy of mine in Benin. She informed me that in her neighbourhood, they have had electricity … Read more
Boko Haram was on Sunday blamed for an attack on motorists in northeast Nigeria which left one person dead and underlined the Islamist group’s continuing security threat to civilians. Gunmen on Saturday opened fire on a convoy of vehicles travelling to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, from the garrison town of Monguno, 140 kilometres (about … Read more
Hundreds of internally displaced people in northern Nigeria are returning home to the villages and towns they fled to escape the brutal onslaught of Boko Haram militants, the U. N. refugee agency reports. And this, says UNHCR spokesman Leo Dobbs, is a matter of concern. The Nigerian armed forces have retaken many of those areas … Read more
In-fighting has broken out in Boko Haram after the Islamic State group announced a new leader of its Nigerian affiliate, according to reports in the country’s remote northeast. IS said last month that Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the son of Boko Haram’s founder Mohammed Yusuf, had replaced Abubakar Shekau at the head of the designated terrorist … Read more
Nigeria’s military says some officers are selling arms and ammunition to Boko Haram, indicating the corruption bedeviling the country’s fight against the Islamic extremists continues despite government efforts to halt graft. The admission comes three weeks after the Nigerian army said a military tribunal is trying 16 officers and troops accused of offenses related to … Read more
Lagos (AFP) – Nigeria’s military claimed Tuesday to have seriously injured Boko Haram’s elusive leader Abubakar Shekau and killed other commanders in an air strike on the Islamist group’s forest stronghold. The announcement was met with scepticism by Boko Haram experts who pointed out that Nigeria has repeatedly claimed to have killed Shekau in previous … Read more
Sokoto (Nigeria) (AFP) – US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday praised Nigeria for its recent gains against Boko Haram Islamists but did not endorse military claims that the group’s leader Abubakar Shekau has been wounded. Speaking at a press conference in the ancient northern city of Sokoto, Kerry congratulated Nigeria for reclaiming swathes … Read more
Abuja (AFP) – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said Sunday that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is “wounded”, in his first comments on military claims that the jihadi leader was injured in an attack. Nigeria’s armed forces said on Tuesday that Shekau had been wounded in an air strike on Boko Haram’s forest stronghold, but released … Read more
The Boko Haram sect threatened Buhari in a new video released some hours ago, where the leader of the terrorist group issued a warning to the President against making any move, which could backfire on him and the entire citizens of Nigeria. Naij.com reports that the head of the sect who read out his pre-prepared … Read more