Boko Haram
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9 people were killed and 21 seriuosly injured in Kolofata by a twin suicide bomb attack on Friday. The explosions occurred near the lamidat of Kolofata. The prefect of the department of Mayo-Sava, Akaou Babila who confirmed the attacks hinted he visited the scene accomapnied by Brigadier General Jacob Kodji, commander of the 4th Joint Military Region (RMIA 4). The attacks were carried out by two teenagers.
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Niger has agreed to transfer hundreds of prisoners from the militant Islamist group Boko Haram back to their home country of Nigeria to reduce pressure on its crammed prisons, judicial sources said on Tuesday. Boko Haram militants mostly operate in northeastern Nigeria but have also stepped up their insurgency within Niger's southern region of Diffa in recent months, carrying out dozens of attacks. Niger has declared a state of emergency there in an effort to improve security and has made hundreds of arrests.
"Nigeria sent a working group here (to Niger) last week and the two sides have established an initial list of 500 detainees who will soon be transferred to Nigeria," said a magistrate working on the case who asked not to be named. He did not give the exact timing of the transfer or say how the potentially dangerous prisoners would be transported.
The prisoners are currently being held in the detention centers of Kollo, Diffa and Koutoukale, all of which are overpopulated due to arrests of Boko Haram militants, a justice ministry source said. Niger and Nigeria are both members of an 8,700-strong regional taskforce dedicated to destroying a group that has killed thousands of people and displaced millions in its push to create an Islamic caliphate in the region. However, the task force's operations have stalled for logistical reasons, security sources say, and regional armies are instead seeking to counter the group alone.
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Nigerian troops have recorded another achievement in their battle against Boko Haram insurgents. Gallant troops of 28 Task Force Brigade today arrested another Boko Haram terrorist suspect, Abdullahi Abubakar Sadiq who is said to be the insurgents' Chief Cameraman and suspect number 58 on the list of 100 suspected Boko Haram terrorists wanted list.
Sadiq was arrested at Uba town, Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State.Also,the gallant soldiers arrested two other suspected terrorists at Rumirgo and Kilakasa.
Usman described the arrest as an “unprecedented achievement” and said the suspected terrorist was arrested by vigilant troops of 28 Task Force Brigade.
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Takfiri Boko Haram militants have attacked a village in southeast Niger, killing 18 people and burning nearly 100 homes, local authorities say. The assault occurred in the village of Wogom located in Diffa late Wednesday. The Takfiri militants are believed to have come to Niger after crossing the Komadougou Yobe river which separates the country from Nigeria. Niger's southeast Diffa region near Nigeria has witnessed numerous attacks since February, including one in June when 38 people lost their lives and the latest in October, during which the Boko Haram terrorists shot 13 people dead in a village.
Niger has joined a regional military alliance alongside Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria to battle Nigeria-based Boko Haram elements, whose violence has spilled over into several African nations. The Boko Haram militancy began in 2009, when the terrorist group started an armed rebellion against the government. At least 17,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million made homeless since then.
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Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari says army troops were denied weapons to fight the Boko Haram Takfiri militants due to corrupt multi-billion dollar arms deals that never procured military equipment for the soldiers. President Buhari recently received a report from a 13-member committee set up to investigate the issue of arms procurement between 2007 and 2015. He ordered late Tuesday anyone involved in the multi-billion dollar deals for weapons and equipment to be “brought to book.” “The findings made so far are extremely worrying considering that the interventions were granted within the same period that our troops fighting the insurgency in the northeast were in desperate need of platforms, military equipment and ammunition,” said the Nigerian president.
The corruption has resulted in the needless deaths of a significant number of Nigerians, Buhari said. “Had the funds siphoned to these non-performing companies been properly used for the purpose they were meant for, thousands of needless Nigerian deaths would have been avoided.” According to the presidential statement, the investigation has “unearthed several illicit and fraudulent financial transactions.” The probe came after soldiers complained that despite the military’s huge budget, troops were ill-equipped to fight Boko Haram.
Front-line troops serving under Goodluck Jonathan, Buhari’s predecessor, frequently complained the militants were better armed and they lacked the proper equipment, including bullets, to fight. President Buhari has ordered the arrest of Nigeria’s former National Security Adviser Colonel Sambo Dasuki. Buhari’s office said Dasuki had “awarded fictitious and phantom contracts” worth about two billion dollars for jets, helicopters and ammunition for the Nigerian army to fight Boko Haram.
The weapons were never delivered. Since taking the helm on May 29, the Buhari administration has been primarily focused on the fight against Boko Haram. The 72-year-old former military ruler has given the army until the end of the year to suppress the militants, who have killed at least 17,000 people and made over 2.5 million homeless since 2009. Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terror group, which is primarily operating inside Syria and neighboring Iraq.
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Chad's national assembly extended a state of emergency in the western Lake Chad region by four months on Wednesday following a double attack by Boko Haram militants that killed some 12 people. "The state of emergency is prolonged by 147 unanimous votes by the parliament for four months. That is to say it will end on March 22," a ruling party deputy told Reuters. The initial emergency was authorized on Nov. 9 and was set to last 12 days.
The government wanted a six-month extension but deputies opposed it, another deputy told Reuters. Chad helped force Boko Haram to cede territory earlier this year, undermining the Islamist group's six-year campaign to carve out a Nigerian caliphate. The rebels have since ramped up attacks in remote border areas around Lake Chad.
Oil-producing Chad is a key ally in the fight against the Islamist threat across West Africa, playing a central role in offensives on al Qaeda-linked groups in Mali and Boko Haram militants in neighboring Nigeria. There has not been a state of emergency in Chad, one of Africa's military heavyweights, since a series of rebellions in the 2000s springing from its volatile east. Neighboring Niger also has a state of emergency in its border region of Diffa.
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