Chad relocates Sudan refugees as army deploys near border

-
By Mahamat Ramadane Reuters Chad has begun the emergency relocation of refugees from its border with Sudan as the ‌army prepares to deploy to the area in response to ‌cross-border attacks, an official from the country’s refugee agency told Reuters on Monday. President Mahamat Idriss ​Deby last week ordered the army to prepare to retaliate after a cross-border drone attack from Sudan killed 17 people in Chad including mourners attending a funeral service. A separate government statement last week said Chad had strengthened its ‌security presence at the ⁠border and could potentially carry out operations on Sudanese territory. Initial refugee relocation operations will involve around 2,300 people, more ⁠than half of them women and children, said Saleh Tebir Souleymane, the representative in the border town of Tine for Chad’s National Commission for the ​Reception and ​Reintegration of Refugees and Returnees. They began ​moving people further into Chad, ‌away from the frontier, on Sat...
Post a Comment

Gunmen kill nearly 200 in Nigeria’s Kwara and Katsina attacks

-

By TUNDE OMOLEHIN and DYEPKAZAH SHIBAYAN, Associated Press

Armed extremists killed at least 162 people during attacks on two villages in western Nigeria, a lawmaker said Wednesday, in one of the deadliest assaults in recent months. One rights group estimated the death toll could be higher.

The attacks targeted the villages of Woro and Nuku, in the state of Kwara, on Tuesday evening, Mohammed Omar Bio, a member of parliament representing the area, told The Associated Press.

He said the attacks were carried out by the Lakurawa, an armed group affiliated with the Islamic State group. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Ayodeji Emmanuel Babaomo, the Red Cross secretary in Kwara state, said the organization has been unable to reach the communities where “scores of people were killed” because they are in a remote area — about eight hours from the state capital and near Nigeria’s border with Benin.

Footage from the scene on local television show bodies lying in blood on the ground, some with their hands tied, as well as burning houses.

Amnesty International said in a statement the gunmen killed over 170 people, razed homes and looted shops.

“The security lapses that enabled these attack are unacceptable,” the rights group said, adding that the gunmen had been sending “warning” letters to the villagers for more than five months.

State governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq described the attack as a “cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells” in response to ongoing military operations against armed extremists in the state.

Nigeria is in the grip of a complex security crisis, with an insurgency by Islamic militants in the northeast alongside a surge in kidnappings for ransom by gunmen across the northwest and north-central regions over recent months.

Separately on Tuesday, unknown gunmen killed at least 13 people in the village of Doma, in the northwestern state of Katsina, police spokesman Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu said. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack,

Boko Haram extremists in northeastern Nigeria killed at least 36 people last week during separate attacks on a construction site and on an army base.

The armed groups in Nigeria include at least two affiliated with IS, an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast, and the lesser-known Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), known locally as Lakurawa, and prominent in the northwest.

The Nigerian military has said in the past that the Lakurawa has roots in neighboring Niger and that it became more active in Nigeria’s border communities following a 2023 military coup.

James Barnett, a researcher at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, said the attack in Kwara state was most likely perpetrated by the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, or JAS, a Boko Haram faction that has been responsible for other recent massacres in the area.

On Tuesday, the head of U.S. Africa Command said the United States had sent a small team of military officers to Nigeria, the latest step in its response to the security crisis. In December, U.S. forces launched airstrikes on IS-affiliated militants in Nigeria.

Africa’s most populous country has been in the diplomatic crosshairs of the U.S. following threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to attack the country, alleging it is not doing enough to protect its Christian citizens.



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/avPFJ7D

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Myanmar earthquake death toll rises as fresh tremors further complicate rescue efforts

-
Image
A5.1-magnitude earthquake struck near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, on Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The tremor was part of a series of aftershocks following Friday’s devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which resulted in the collapse of numerous buildings and significant infrastructure damage. The death toll has risen to over 1,600, with more than 3,400 individuals reported missing; these numbers are expected to increase as rescue operations continue. Foreign rescue teams and supplies arrived in Myanmar on Sunday to help the impoverished country cope with an earthquake that killed over 1,600 and left many near the epicentre scrambling for help without proper equipment. The 7.7-magnitude quake, one of Myanmar’s strongest in a century, jolted the Southeast Asian nation on Friday, leaving 1,644 people dead, 3,408 injured and 139 missing, the military government said. India, China and Thailand are among Myanmar’s neighbours that have sent relief ...
Read more

Israel says situation on Lebanon border ‘not sustainable’

-
By James Mackenzie Reuters  Israeli officials and media reacted with satisfaction on Monday after a  long-expected missile attack  by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement appeared to have been largely thwarted by pre-emptive Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and Israel seemed content to let Sunday’s attack, in retaliation for the  killing of a senior Hezbollah commander  in Beirut last month, count as settled for the moment. Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said Hezbollah had suffered a “crushing blow” from the Israeli strikes but that a longer lasting solution was still needed. “The current situation is not sustainable,” he told a briefing, referring to the tens of thousands evacuated from their homes in northern Israel, a situation mirrored on the other side of the border in southern Lebanon. “Israel will do its duty and return its population to our sovereign territory.” Hopes that children might return for the start of the ...
Read more