Boko Haram
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Boko Haram's elusive leader Abubakar Shekau appeared in a new video on Thursday to dispute a claim that the jihadist group had been routed from its Sambisa Forest stronghold.
"We are safe. We have not been flushed out of anywhere. And tactics and strategies cannot reveal our location except if Allah wills by his decree," Shekau said in the 25-minute video, flanked by masked armed fighters.
"You should not be telling lies to the people," he said, referring to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari who said on Christmas Eve that the extremist group had been defeated and driven away from the forest, its last known bastion.
"If you indeed crushed us, how can you see me like this? How many times have you killed us in your bogus death?" he asked.
It was not immediately clear where the new video was shot, but Shekau who spoke in both Hausa and Arabic said it was filmed on Christmas Day.
Shekau last appeared in a video in September where he disputed a claim by the Nigerian military that he had been wounded in battle.
He vowed to continue fighting on until an Islamic state was imposed in northern Nigeria.
"Our aim is to establish an Islamic Caliphate and we have our own Caliphate, we are not part of Nigeria."
Buhari had announced that a months-long military campaign in the 1,300 square-kilometre (500 square-mile) forest in northeastern Borno state had led to the "final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa Forest".
The government in Abuja and the military have frequently claimed victories against the Islamic State group affiliate but access to the epicentre of the conflict is strictly controlled.
That has made independent verification of official statements about victories virtually impossible.
Attacks have meanwhile continued, making claims of defeating Boko Haram questionable despite undoubted progress in pushing back the group.
The Boko Haram's insurgency has killed at least 20,000 and forced some 2.6 million others to flee their homes since 2009.
The violence has sparked a dire humanitarian crisis in the region, with thousands of children facing the risk of famine and starvation.
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A suicide bomber in the northern Cameroon town of Mora killed a young student and a woman in an attack on a market full of Christmas shoppers, an aide to the governor of Far North region said on Sunday.
Suicide bombers suspected of belonging to the Islamist militant group Boko Haram have launched attacks in Mora, about 30 km (20 miles) from the Nigerian border, several times before.
The bomb also killed the attacker and wounded five other people, said the aide to Governor Midjiyawa Bakary.
"The suicide bomber was pretending to be a beggar and was walking towards the market which was full because of Christmas. Members of a vigilance committee spotted him before he could penetrate the market," a Cameroonian soldier told Reuters.
"He was stopped and in panic he detonated his explosives. If he hadn't been spotted the death toll would have been higher," he said.
Fighters from Boko Haram have killed thousands in their campaign to carve out an Islamist state in their base in northeast Nigeria and have also launched attacks in neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
The group has frequently used female bombers and children to hit targets.
Similar attacks used to happen on an almost daily basis in Cameroon, but the International Crisis Group reported this month that the frequency had fallen since September, leading analysts to believe Boko Haram was weakening there.
Reuters
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Flying in aid workers by helicopter to remote, hard-to-reach areas previously cut off from help by Boko Haram violence across northeast Nigeria has provided more than 45,000 people with aid over the past week, the United Nations said Thursday.
Many of those receiving aid have received little or no assistance so far, the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) said.
A military push against the jihadist group Boko Haram has enabled troops to enter remote parts of northeast Nigeria in the last few months, but insecurity and the fear of violence has restricted access to some areas by road for many aid agencies.
Many children at risk
Some 4.6 million people are going hungry across the region, of whom two million need food aid urgently, the WFP said.
"These missions help avert famine and aim to reach tens of thousands of hungry people stranded in remote areas or in areas difficult to access due to insecurity," WFP's country director for Nigeria, Sory Ouane, said in a statement.
Around 400,000 children are at risk from famine in the states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe — 75,000 of whom could die from hunger within months, the United Nations says.
"Our teams will carry out emergency missions as long as needed," Ouane added.
More help on the way
The WFP plans to fly in teams of aid workers across the northeast a dozen times a month — backed up by food delivered by road where possible — to provide support to some 300,000 people.
In some parts of the region, more than half of children under the age of five are malnourished, according to the WFP.
But hunger and malnutrition rates have improved hugely in areas that have become accessible in recent months, Ouane said.
Militants displace thousands
Boko Haram militants have killed about 15,000 people and displaced some 2.6 million in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria during a seven-year campaign to carve out an Islamist caliphate.
The Islamist group still launches deadly attacks despite having been driven out of much of the territory it held in 2014.
VOA
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28 Boko Haram terrorists were neutralized in Sirdawala (8 km inside Nigerian territory) by Cameroonian Defense Forces acting under the banner of the Multinational Joint Force (FMM) on the night of 22-23 November 2016, according to statements from Cameroon's Communication Minister, Issa Tchiroma Bakary on Thursday, 24.November 2016 in Yaounde. The Cameroonian defense forces operating received support from Nigerian forces during the operation" Issa Tchiroma said.
The soldiers confiscated lots of military equipments from the insurgents including, 2 assault rifles, 2 fragmentation grenades, 8 boxes of magazines with hundreds of ammunition, spears, arrows, axes, knives, fighting suits ,5 motorcycles and various objects used in the manufacture of explosive devices. Propaganda vehicles from the terrorist group wre also impounded.
Fighters from Boko Haram have killed thousands in their campaign to carve out an Islamist state in their base in northeast Nigeria including areas in neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
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Suspected Boko Haram militants launched three attacks in northern Cameroon within 24 hours, including a thwarted suicide strike on a camp for people who have been displaced by the conflict, security sources said on Tuesday.
The Islamist militant group is based in northeastern Nigeria but regularly carries out raids in neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger, prompting the four countries plus Benin to create a 10,000-strong joint task force.
The frequency of the attacks has dropped in recent months, although more than 1,500 people have been killed in Cameroon by such attacks, International Crisis Group said in a report this month. Attacks were happening on an almost daily basis, but have dropped to between six and eight a month, it said.
Reuters
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Seven Cameroonian soldiers were killed in the night from Monday, 21 November 2016 breaking Tuesday, in a violent attack attributed to Boko Haram insurgents in the Northen part of the country in wahat is attributed as a violent attack in the Lake Chad district of DARAK
Among the soldiers killed is the head of the battalion, Captain Tsengue Marcel, Bewesse Ndzana, Zoua Bessala Serge, Foung Arthur, Abayatini Alawo and the head of the vigilance groupof ofDarak, Saidou Mohamed.Another civilian was seriously injured.
Shortly before before the attck, almost simultaneously, a young female suicide bomber was neutralized at the entrance of a camp at Kolofata, around 6:45 pm.
The suicide bomber was shot dead by elements of the Cameroonian military.She was loaded with half a dozen explosive which were later difused by Cameroon's Rapid Intervention unit(BIR).
Attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram are experiencing an upsurge at the end of the rainy season in Northern Cameroon.
With the drought, the flooded tracks are dried up, which makes it more practicable for the insurgents to move in and out of the Cameroonian territory.
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