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Nigeria to withdraw some troops from Mali

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Nigeria plans to withdraw some of its troops from Mali because they are needed back home, where the country is battling a deadly Islamist insurgency, officials said Thursday.

It was not clear how many troops would be pulled from the troubled west African nation, where Nigeria currently has some 1,000 troops, a Nigerian military source said.

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, current chair of the 15-nation West African bloc ECOWAS, told reporters the withdrawal was because Nigeria needed its soldiers back home.

“It’s because of the domestic situation,” Ouattara said after an ECOWAS summit in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

“I received a letter from the president. Nigeria needs some of its people. They are not withdrawing everyone. They are withdrawing part of the troops. A good part of the troops are going to be there.”

However, the military source said troops would pull out because the country felt “shabbily treated” under the new UN force in Mali.

A Nigerian commanded the previous African-led force in the country, but the UN mission is being headed by a Rwandan. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer, has the biggest military in west Africa.

“Nigeria feels shabbily treated … when it became a UN outfit,” the military source said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

“…A non-Nigerian was appointed as force commander while we are putting so much into the mission. So we think we can make better use of those people at home than to keep them where they are not appreciated.”

He added that “it is not all of them that will be withdrawn,” without providing specifics.

The UN mission integrates more than 6,000 west African soldiers into its ranks and is charged with ensuring security during and after July 28 elections in Mali.

It is to grow to 11,200 troops, plus 1,400 police, by the end of the year.

French forces intervened in Mali in January to push out Islamist rebels who had seized the north. The UN deployment has allowed France to start withdrawing most of its 4,500 troops.

Nigeria approved the deployment of 900 troops with the capacity to increase to 1,200 under the previous African-led force.

Nigeria’s military has been stretched thin back home.

Violence linked to an insurgency by Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, mainly in Nigeria’s north, has left some 3,600 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces.

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Nigeria claims rescue of women, children held by Boko Haram

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Nigeria’s military on Sunday claimed the rescue of women and children hostages from a Boko Haram Islamist stronghold, saying troops killed several insurgents during recent gun battles in the area.

The Bulabulin Nganaram area of the northeastern city of Maiduguri, where the fighting occurred, is considered an enclave of the radical Islamist group.

The military battled Boko Haram fighters in the area from July 3 to July 8, killing “some terrorists”, spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa said in a statement.

“Many abducted women, children and girls were rescued and handed over to their families,” he added.

Boko Haram, which has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north, has been accused of carrying out a series of abductions across the region.

The military also said it discovered a series of bunkers dug by the insurgents at the site.

A number of bodies were also found, Musa said.

The dead included people “killed by the terrorists” as well the bodies of presumed Boko Haram fighters which had been buried in the area, according to Musa.

He mentioned “mass graves” found amid the bunkers, but provided no figures or details.

Nigeria’s military has repeatedly been accused of providing misinformation about the Boko Haram conflict, including with respect to casualties.

Boko Haram combatants are known to retrieve the bodies of members killed in clashes. The corpses allegedly found at the site may be those of Islamist fighters killed in previous battles and later buried by the group.

The security forces continue to enforce a mobile phone shut down in much of the northeast, including in Maiduguri.

The communication blackout was imposed in mid-May to block Boko Haram fighters from coordinating attacks amid an ongoing offensive aimed at crushing the insurgency.

With no mobile phone service, it has been difficult to verify or corroborate the military’s accounts of any clashes.

The defence ministry spokesman was not available to comment on the nature of the discoveries at the Maiduguri site.

Nigeria has claimed huge successes against Boko Haram during the offensive, but insurgent attacks have persisted in some areas.

There have been three attacks targeting schools in recent weeks in three locations, leaving more than 50 people dead, most of whom were students.

The conflict is estimated to have cost 3,600 lives since 2009, including killings by the security services.

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Nigeria: Mass graves found in anti-extremist raids

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Military officials say they have uncovered mass graves of decomposing bodies, networks of underground tunnels and caches of buried arms in raids that killed dozens of Islamic extremists in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri.

Sunday’s statement about last week’s raids contradicts previous military assurances that it had forced militants out of major cities and towns in a two-month-old security crackdown in three northeastern states covering one-sixth of Nigeria.

Spokesman Lt. Col. Sagir Musa said security forces also rescued many women and girls kidnapped by the extremists in an attack in Maiduguri’s Bulabulinganaram neighborhood.

The extremists are alleged to be part of a group known as Boko Haram, which is believed responsible for hundreds of deaths and opposes education it deems as being “Western.”

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Nigerian extremist: Burn schools, kill teachers

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The leader of Nigeria’s extremist Islamic sect threatens to burn down more schools and kill teachers. But he denies his fighters are killing children.

Islamic radical Abubakar Shekau speaks in a video released Saturday and denies his Boko Haram group is negotiating a peace with the Nigerian government.

He says he supports fighters who have burned down several schools in northeastern Nigeria in recent weeks but that the Quran teaches one must not kill children, women and elderly people. Dozens of children have been killed.

But he says “School teachers who are teaching Western education? We will kill them! We will kill them.”

Attacks on schools have continued though Nigeria has deployed thousands of troops to put down an Islamic uprising posing the greatest threat in years to national security.

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Boko Haram leader 'supports' Nigeria school massacre

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The head of Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamists said he supported a July 6 attack on a school that killed 42 people, but did not claim responsibility for the massacre, in a video obtained by AFP on Saturday.

“We fully support the attack on this Western education school in Mamudo,” in northern Yobe state, Abubakar Shekau said in the 10-minute video message.

The video was delivered to AFP in a manner consistent with previous statements from the Islamist leader, who has been declared a global terrorist by the United States.

The early morning gun and bomb attack at a boarding school in the Mamudo district of Yobe saw assailants round up students and staff in a dormitory before throwing explosives inside and opening fire, according to witnesses.

Most of those killed were students.

In the video, Shekau described all “Western education schools” as a “plot against Islam”.

He however stopped short of claiming to have ordered the attack.

“We don’t attack students,” he said in the Hausa language message.

Yobe state was one of three areas placed under a state of emergency in May ahead of a sweeping military offensive against Boko Haram.

Roughly translated, Boko Haram means “Western education is sin.”

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Nigeria sets up Islamic extremist amnesty group

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Nigeria‘s government says it is setting up a committee that will create a way to offer an amnesty program to Islamic extremists in hopes of ending an insurgency across its north.

A statement Wednesday from Nigeria‘s presidency identified a 26-person panel that would explore a possible deal with guerrilla fighters, including the Islamic extremist network Boko Haram and others. The presidency said it hoped to have a plan for an amnesty deal within 60 days.

It remains unclear how successful such a deal would be for fighters. A similar amnesty program in 2009 largely quelled fighting in the country’s oil-rich southern delta, though militants there eagerly wanted cash payouts. The leader of Boko Haram repeatedly has rejected the idea of an amnesty deal with the government in recent messages.

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Extremists kill 4 police officers in north Nigeria

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Police in northeast Nigeria say suspected Islamic extremists attacked a police station, killing four officers in a gun battle.

The attack early Thursday morning in Babangida, a small town in Yobe state, is part of a continuing wave violence sweeping the north.

Yobe state police commissioner Rufai Sunusi said Thursday that his officers killed five of the gunmen. Sunusi said two officers also were wounded in the attack.

After the attack, Yobe state’s government announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew for citizens.

Boko Haram and other Islamic extremists have been waging a guerrilla campaign of shootings and bombings across northern Nigeria. The violence has killed at least 173 people this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/obbBOyh78aY/

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Suspected Islamic extremists kill 4 in Nigeria

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Officials say suspected Islamic extremists shot and killed four people involved in education programs in northeast Nigeria, including a man in charge of a program to feed poor students.

The killings happened Monday on the outskirts of Bama in Borno state, a region long under attack by a radical Islamic extremist network known as Boko Haram. Authorities say the four were killed as they tried to flee the gunmen.

A military spokesman confirmed Tuesday the incident took place, while other state officials said they would attend a burial for the dead planned for Tuesday.

Boko Haram and other Islamic extremists have been waging a guerrilla campaign of shootings and bombings across northern Nigeria. The violence has killed at least 169 people this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.

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Authorities: 11 killed in northeast Nigeria attack

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Authorities in northeast Nigeria say at least 11 people were killed in a gun and machete attack carried out by radical Islamic extremists in a northeast Nigeria village.

Adamawa state police spokesman Mohammed Ibrahim said the attacker hit the village of Midlu early Saturday morning, targeting the house of the state’s deputy governor during their assault.

Ibrahim said victims had their throats slit. Villagers living there said the attackers called out some of their victims by name, suggesting that the assailants had particular people they wanted dead.

No arrests were immediately made in the attack, which comes as northern Nigeria faces near-daily attacks by Islamic extremists. The main extremist network there, known as Boko Haram, has been launching attacks since 2010, despite an increased deployment of soldiers and police there.

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Seasoned combat leader takes over Africa Command

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One of the American military’s most seasoned combat leaders took charge Friday of U.S. Africa Command, whose No. 1 mission is to work with allies to neutralize the continent’s widening web of Islamic extremist groups, including those affiliated with al-Qaida.

Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez took over for Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, who is retiring after 39 years in uniform, including two years as an enlisted 82nd Airborne paratrooper.

Rodriguez served two tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan, including as the No. 2 commander of coalition forces during the 2010 U.S. troop surge. He is a member of a high-achiever West Point class of 1976 that includes the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. Ray Odierno.

Ham and Rodriguez made the switch at a ceremony presided over by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, at a hotel near Africa Command‘s Stuttgart headquarters.

Dempsey called Rodriguez well-suited to lead Africa Command, calling him “smart and decisive.”

Notable for his absence was Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. He sent two letters — one read for him at a retirement ceremony for Ham and another at the formal change-of-command ceremony. Dempsey said Hagel had been “held” in Washington on other business.

Since its creation in 2007, Africa Command has grown from a relative backwater to arguably one of the most important commands in the U.S. military establishment. That is largely due to rising concern about Islamic extremists in the region, including a group known as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which gained strength following the March 2012 coup d’etat in Mali.

Other extremist groups of particular concern to the U.S. are Boko Haram in Nigeria, and al-Shabaab in Somalia.

Africa Command‘s area of responsibility covers the entire African continent minus Egypt.

As the Africa Command chief, Ham managed the U.S. portion of a 2011 coalition campaign to establish a no-fly zone over Libya in support of rebels whose uprising led to the violent overthrow of long-time strongman Moammar Ghadafi. A low point for Ham was the terrorist attack on U.S. government compounds in the Libyan city of Benghazi last September that killed our Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

A U.S. government official said Thursday that extremist and …read more

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US eyes anti-piracy effort along west Africa coast

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The U.S. and some of its allies are considering plans to increase anti-piracy operations along Africa‘s west coast, spurred on by concerns that money from the attacks is funding a Nigerian-based insurgent group that is linked to one of al-Qaida’s most dangerous affiliates.

Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has escalated over the past year, and senior U.S. defense and counter-piracy officials say allied leaders are weighing whether beefed up enforcement efforts that worked against pirates off the Somalia coast might also be needed in the waters off Nigeria.

There has been growing coordination between Nigeria-based Boko Haram and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which was linked to the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last September that killed four Americans, including the ambassador. Military leaders say AQIM has become the wealthiest al-Qaida offshoot and an increasing terrorist threat to the region.

It has long been difficult to track whether there are terrorist ties to piracy in the waters off Africa. But officials are worried that even if Boko Haram insurgents aren’t directly involved in the attacks off Nigeria and Cameroon, they may be reaping some of the profits and using the money for ongoing terrorist training or weapons.

No final decisions have been made on how counter-piracy operations could be increased in that region, and budget restrictions could hamper that effort, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about emerging discussions between senior U.S. military commanders and other international leaders.

But officials say the solution could include continued work and counter-piracy training with African nations. The U.S. participated last month in a maritime exercise with European and African partners in the Gulf of Guinea.

“Maritime partnerships and maritime security and safety are increasingly important in the Gulf of Guinea region to combat a variety of challenges including maritime crime, illicit trafficking and piracy,” said Gen. Carter Ham, head of U.S. Africa Command.

In recent weeks, Ham and other U.S. military commanders have bluntly warned Congress that the terrorist threat from northern Africa has become far more worrisome.

“If the threat that is present in Africa is left unaddressed, it will over time grow to an increasingly dangerous and imminent threat to U.S. interests, and certainly could develop into a threat that threatens us in other places,” Ham told Congress earlier this month. …read more
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Suicide car bombing kills at least 22 in Nigeria

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Police say at least 22 people have died in a suicide car bombing that struck a bus station in northern Nigeria‘s busiest commercial center.

Kano police chief Musa Daura said Tuesday that at least 65 others were injured in the attack that hit the city of Kano on Monday evening. He said two people drove an explosive-laden car into a station in a Christian enclave in the predominantly Muslim commercial center.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion has fallen on the radical Islamic network Boko Haram.

The explosion came hours after another attack blamed on Boko Haram killed a teacher and injured three students in Maiduguri, the group’s spiritual home. A local military spokesman said three sect members were killed in a counterattack.

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At least 16 killed in northern Nigeria explosion

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A medic says at least 16 people were killed in an explosion that hit a bus station in Kano in northern Nigeria.

The medic, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said at least 16 dead and dozens more injured people were brought to the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital after Monday’s blast.

National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Yushau Shuaib said it was not clear if there had been one or multiple explosions.

Residents’ suspicion fell on the radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram, which has waged a campaign of bombings across Nigeria‘s north.

The blast occurred in a Christian enclave in Kano. It came hours after an attack blamed on Boko Haram killed a teacher and injured three students in northeastern Nigeria.

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Nigeria: French hostage and family in new video

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A French hostage has spoken in a video filmed three days ago with his family, weeks after extremists kidnapped them from northern Cameroon.

The video‘s audio airs a voice that identifies himself as Tanguy Moulin-Fournier. He says the Islamic radical network known as Boko Haram wants all its members freed, especially women and children, from Nigerian and Cameroonian custody.

The man says his family is losing strength every day and they are starting to be sick.

The family was kidnapped on Feb. 19.

The video was not immediately available, but a media source who viewed it says it shows the Moulin-Fournier family, including the four children. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to press.

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Head of US Africa command warns of Islamic threat

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The chief of the U.S. Africa Command warned on Friday that threats from Islamic extremists in Africa are increasing and if unchecked could pose a greater danger to American interests and allies.

Army Gen. Carter Ham faced some wary members of the House Armed Services Committee, who questioned a robust U.S. military involvement in Africa after more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ham said the threats in Africa do not match al-Qaida or the Taliban in Afghanistan, “but the trend is not good.”

“I think we have an opportunity now to work preventive effort in concert with African forces and with allies and friends globally to suppress the threat, to reverse the trend, which is increasingly worrisome to me,” Ham told the committee. “And that does not necessitate a large commitment of U.S. forces. And I do not believe that a large commitment of U.S. forces is either necessary nor appropriate under the current circumstance.”

Ham cited the growing collaboration between the Nigerian-based radical sect Boko Haram and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which bases its operations in Mali. The general said AQIM is the wealthiest affiliate of al-Qaida, due in part to ransom from kidnappings and the drug trade, and the group has been financing Boko Haram.

The two groups also have shared training and fighters.

Boko Haram has targeted Nigeria‘s weak central government with guerrilla attacks. Pressed on whether it had any intent on striking in the United States, Ham said some elements of the group are looking to attack beyond Africa to Europe and the United States.

“I think that’s why it’s important for us in partnership with Nigeria and others … to help them counter this before their capability matches their intent,” Ham said.

The challenge facing the U.S. military is determining which groups have legitimate ties to a terrorist organization such as al-Qaida and which are organizations dissatisfied with their government.

Ham also complained about “significant shortfalls in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” as he tries to carry out his mission.

Ham’s testimony came as the United States has increased training efforts in several African nations amid widespread insurgent violence across North Africa.

AQIM-linked terrorists are believed to have played a …read more
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US: Islamic extremists move between Nigeria, Mali

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The United States ambassador to Nigeria has said Islamic extremists continue to move freely from the nation to northern Mali, despite the ongoing French military operation there.

U.S. Ambassador Terence McCulley told journalists on a telephone conference call Thursday that officials “have seen reports for years” about fighters from the radical Islamic extremist network Boko Haram traveling to the region. Boko Haram is the main extremist group fighting Nigeria‘s weak central government in a guerrilla campaign of shootings and bombings.

McCulley said: “I do believe the Nigerians feel that there is a link between extremist activity in the Sahel and their internal extremist insurgency.”

McCulley declined, however, to discuss the U.S. plans to operate a drone base from neighboring Niger, which has worried some in Nigeria‘s predominantly Muslim north.

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Nigerian extremists claim they killed 7 hostages

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An Islamic extremist group says that it killed seven foreigners kidnapped in northern Nigeria.

The group, Ansaru, said on its website late Friday that it killed the seven Christian foreigners because it said Nigerian and British forces had killed some Muslims while trying to free the hostages.

Nigerian military spokesman Col. Mohammed Yerima told the Associated Press he had no information about any Nigerian/British military operation.

The seven foreign workers — three Lebanese citizens and one each from Britain, Greece, Italy and the Philippines — are all employees of Setraco, a Lebanese construction company, and were kidnapped in mid-February.

Ansaru is a splinter group from Nigeria‘s Islamic extremist network, Boko Haram. Boko Haram is currently holding a French family of seven who were captured in neighboring Cameroon in late February.

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Video claims Nigeria sect holds 7 French hostages

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A video apparently showing seven French hostages kidnapped from northern Cameroon has been posted online, with a man claiming that a radical Islamic group from Nigeria holds them.

The video, posted Monday to YouTube, shows two men, a woman and four children flanked by two armed men wearing camouflage uniforms. Another speaks in Arabic in front and says that Boko Haram has taken them hostage over the French military intervention in northern Mali.

The unidentified man says Boko Haram wants its members freed in exchange for the hostages. He also threatens the governments of Cameroon and Nigeria.

The vacationing French family was kidnapped in northern Cameroon last week. Cameroonian and Nigerian soldiers are searching for them in the arid, rural border region the two countries share in West Africa.

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YouTube video claims Nigeria sect holding French family hostage

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A video apparently showing seven French hostages kidnapped from northern Cameroon has been posted online, with a man claiming that a radical Islamic group from Nigeria holds them.

The video, posted Monday to YouTube, shows two men, a woman and four children flanked by two armed men wearing camouflage uniforms. Another speaks in Arabic in front and says that Boko Haram has taken them hostage over the French military intervention in northern Mali.

The unidentified man says Boko Haram wants its members freed in exchange for the hostages. He also threatens the governments of Cameroon and Nigeria.

The vacationing French family was kidnapped in northern Cameroon last week. Cameroonian and Nigerian soldiers are searching for them in the arid, rural border region the two countries share in West Africa.

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6 killed in attack in northern Nigeria

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Nigeria‘s military says that at least six people have been killed in an attack in northeastern Nigeria, a region under attack by Islamic extremists.

Lt. Eli Lazarus said Sunday the attack happened Saturday night in Ngalda, a town in Yobe state.

Lazarus said no one has been arrested for the attack. However, local residents say they suspect the radical Islamic sect known as Boko Haram carried out the attack. Boko Haram is blamed for attacks which killed 792 people in 2012, according to a count by The Associated Press.

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