Troops swiftly regained a military base from combined forces of Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram at the weekend, like reported by thenationonlineng.net.

The terrorists’ wielding machine-guns mounted on trucks, seized Marte – a town 93 kilometres from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital – and the military base there on Friday night.

Borno State is the epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency. Ground troops, backed by aerial support, ambushed the reinforcement team of the terrorists before dislodging them.

The Army said troops “tactically withdrew” to defend against the attack from outside Marte. The ISIL posted a statement on its Amaq news channel on Telegram claiming responsibility for the attack.

It said seven people were killed, and one captured, and that its fighters had seized weapons, ammunition and six four-wheel-drive vehicles and that it burnt down the army barracks. There was no confirmation of these claims.

ISWAP, which split from Boko Haram in 2016, maintains camps on islands in Lake Chad – which borders Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad meet – and the area is known to be the group’s bastion.

However, the Defence Headquarters said it eliminated scores of terrorists and destroyed their gun trucks.

In a statement, Coordinator Defence Media Operations Major General John Enenche, said the Armed Forces would “not relent until normalcy is restored not only in the Northeast but also in every other troubled part of our beloved country”.

He added: “After successfully repelling a Boko Haram/ Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists’ attack on Marte, with the destruction of seven gun trucks by the combined ground and air operations, the Air Task Force of Operation Lafiya Dole has obliterated additional six gun trucks and eliminated scores of terrorists who were attempting to reinforce their colleagues in the attack.

“This occurred on the night of 15 January through to the early hours of 16 January 2021 as the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) helicopter gunships engaged the convoy of ISWAP gun trucks as they approached Marte axis for reinforcement.

“The helicopters delivered accurate hits in their multiple waves of attack, obliterating no fewer than six additional gun trucks, which were seen engulfed in flames across the battlespace.

“Several other terrorists were mopped-up in follow-on attacks as the helicopter gunships continued to strafe the fleeing ISWAP elements.

“The Armed Forces of Nigeria, operating in concert with other security agencies and stakeholders, will sustain the offensive against the enemies of our great nation.”

Chief of Army Staff Gen Tukur Buratai praised his forces for recapturing the military base.

Troops and hundreds of residents were reportedly forced to flee following the attack claimed by the ISIL (ISIS) group.

Also yesterday, the police said four of its men were killed and one still missing following an ambush on a convoy of officers attached to Police Mobile Force – 9 PMF Squadron, Kano by bandits.

The incident occurred on Friday along the Birnin Gwari-Funtua Highway.

Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, a Commissioner of Police, said in a statement that the policemen were on their way back to their base in Kano after the completion of a special duty.

He said the policemen repelled the attack and inflicted heavy casualties on the bandits after an exchange of gunfire.

According to him, contrary to unconfirmed reports in some sections of the media stating that 18 officers were kidnapped, only 16 officers were attacked in the ambush.

The police spokesman said the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, commended the officers for displaying uncommon gallantry and repelling the attack.

The statement reads: “Contrary to unconfirmed reports in some sections of the media stating that 18 officers were kidnapped, only 16 were attacked in the ambush.

“The officers successfully repelled the attack accordingly and neutralised the bandits in their tens while many of the bandits scampered into the bush with gunshot injuries.

“Regrettably, four of the officers paid the supreme price during the exchange of gunfire between the Police and the bandits while an officer is still missing.

“However, the remaining 11 officers led by their Unit Commander successfully recovered the bodies and firearms of their fallen colleagues while concerted efforts are being intensified to rescue the officer still missing.

“The IGP, while commiserating with the families of the officers who have yet again paid the supreme price in the service of our nation, assures that their death shall not be in vain.

“The IGP assures the citizens that the Force is not deterred and will not relent in its commitment to delivering on its mandate and ensuring that all activities of bandits and other unscrupulous elements in the area and other parts of the country are brought to check.”

The Defence Headquarters has said that troops of Operation Lafiya Dole and its subsidiary Operation Tura Takaibango, have eliminated no fewer than sixty-four terrorists in different encounters in the North East in the last one week, like reported by dailypost.ng.

The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, made this known while addressing journalists on the operations of Nigeria’s Armed Forces between January 7 and 13, in Abuja on Thursday.

He reported that several other terrorists were also killed in massive airstrikes by the Air Task Force as well as the destruction of eleven terrorists’ gun trucks and other equipment during the period.

Enenche added that the troops had on January 7, raided a Boko Haram terrorists’ enclave at Goniri and Gorgi in Gujba and Damaturu Local Government Areas of Yobe killing scores and recovered ten gun trucks from the terrorists.

The Coordinator said the newly inaugurated subsidiary Operation Tura Takaibango had on January 9, killed 28 terrorists at Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe.

He said, “Similarly on the same day, troops had an encounter with some BHT/ISWAP terrorists at Gonan Kaji Village along Damaturu-Buni Yadi Road in Yobe.

“During this period, 30 terrorists were killed while caches of arms and ammunition were recovered.

“In the same vein, on January 10, troops engaged with some terrorists at Kafa village in Damboa Local Government Area of Yobe killing six terrorists and recovering one-gun truck and several weapons.”

In the North West, Enenche explained that the military, in collaboration with other security agencies, continued to sustain the onslaught against the bandits, kidnappers and cattle rustlers.

According to him, troops of Operation Hadarin Daji had on January 9, neutralised no fewer than 50 bandits in Kuriya village of Kaura Namoda Local Government Area of Zamfara State following actionable intelligence.

Enenche also disclosed that the troops recovered 334 livestock from the bandits and returned the same to the rightful owners.

Before 9/11, many forget that Osama Bin Laden largely made a name for himself in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Sudan, he conceived his Islamic Army Shura, laying “the groundwork for a true global terrorist network” known as Al Qaeda, like reported by nationalinterest.org.

There, Bin Laden largely began to call for jihad against Western forces and gained the prowess to export terrorism against American targets, hence Al Qaeda’s attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, just two years after his expulsion.

History might just be repeating itself as the West forgets its lessons and again neglects Sub-Sahara’s intensifying terrorism.

The consequences could be grave. Just cue 2019, when a Kenyan Al Qaeda affiliate plotted to hijack a plane and execute a 9/11-style attack.

While the attack was foiled, its scare overshadows a troubled decade, in which Sub-Saharan Africa witnessed an unprecedented resurgence in Islamist groups, with Islamic State (ISIS) affiliates displacing millions while seeking to establish bases in six African countries, and at times, hosting territory the size of Belgium.

Raising further alarm, experts have described 2020 as a breakout year for ISIS affiliates, an unsurprising reality given the attacks that recently claimed fifty in Mozambique and 100 in Niger.

While history echoes, ISIS’s pivot to Africa and new festering hotspots therein could prove more dangerous than those of its Middle Eastern past.

There, ISIS has strategically established territory in cross-border zones. This tactic has allowed it to conduct attacks and disappear across borders, rendering it effectively untouchable to all affected countries—which are amongst the world’s most impoverished and unprepared to dislodge ISIS. Some hotspots also approximate natural resource basins, whose wealth, if seized, could enormously enrich the ISIS network and its capabilities.

Given the implications of inaction—an emboldened ISIS network with multiple safe havens from which it can attack the West—ISIS’s African presence commands greater attention as a top security concern.

Four hot spots warrant attention. First is West Africa, which endures multiple internal insurgencies. Most concerning is that governing Boko Haram whose presence envelopes Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and Cameroon.

Since 2009, Boko Haram has killed 36,000 and displaced 2.5 million civilians while seeking to establish a caliphate and depose Nigeria’s government. While it coordinated with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb post-2010, in 2016, the group splintered, with one faction continuing with allegiance to the Islamic State West Africa Province, and the other remaining steadfast to Abubakar Shekau’s faction.

While Boko Haram’s territory once matched Belgium in size, the group’s division cost territory. Nevertheless, its presence in Nigeria’s Borno state looms large, and its positioning couldn’t be more conveniently located at the crossroads of four countries.

Such positioning has allowed Boko Haram to disappear into Chad. Last year it conducted perhaps the deadliest terrorist attack in the country’s history—killing ninety-two. It also infiltrated Niger, where it claimed twenty-eight lives and razed 800 homes, and Cameroon, where in one attack it killed seventeen.

With Nigeria unable to contain Boko Haram, it remains questionable whether any of the aforementioned countries can do so, especially given their military and economic inferiority. Whereas Nigeria’s military ranks 42nd out of 138 surveyed countries, those of the others rank no higher than 87th.

They also lack financial resources, ranking amongst the world’s poorest. Out of 190 surveyed geographic entities, Nigeria and Cameroon ranked 141st and 145th, while Chad and Niger ranked below 174th in GDP per capita.

Not to mention, Chad, the next best militarily after Nigeria, overcame a recession and had to rely on France to subvert a coup—all just in the last four years. Chad cannot afford this vulnerability as ISIS festers and its southern oil fields beckon, posing a potential lifeline and revenue source for ISIS if captured.

West Africa’s other great insurgency engrosses Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. There, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara has conquered “ungoverned space” where the three “failing” states meet.

With Mali and Burkina Faso ranking no higher than 165th in terms of GDP per capita and 96th in military might, the two likely will not fare better in preempting another impending ISIS safe-haven.

ISIS’s next major hot spot situates East Africa, particularly Mozambique’s northern border with Tanzania, where ISIS affiliates have killed 2,000 and displaced 430,000 civilians since 2017.

In Mozambique, the Islamic State in the Central African Province has captured “four tourist islands,” and Mocimboa da Praia, a port in the state of Cabo Delgado, which straddles Tanzania and boasts tremendous resource wealth—natural gas and ruby reserves approximating $50 billion in value—that if seized could enrich ISIS’s network.

ISIS has also used this position to infiltrate Tanzania, hence its October invasion, where 300 fighters killed twenty before retreating to Mozambique.

Mozambique and Tanzania’s economies and militaries rank inferior to those of Nigeria’s, suggesting that the two might struggle to suppress this third prospective safe-haven.

Quickly deserving mention is the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)—a group with suspected ISIS-links—and its stronghold over the mountains straddling the DRC and Uganda, from Rwenzori to Ituri, where “[m]uch of the [DRC’s] gold is mined.”

While the Salafist organization has existed since 1995, it has become rather deadly recently, killing 800 Congolese civilians in 2020. While the DRC’s military ranks 71st, its economy ranks amongst the poorest, 185th.

If left unchecked, the ADF could become another asset in ISIS’s portfolio, granting ISIS pivotal access to another cross-border zone, to invaluable gold mines, and to a foothold in the DRC—the world’s most endowed per resource wealth.

With four burgeoning safe havens, ISIS has revived in Sub-Sahara and could be deadlier than ever. Embedding at the cross borders of failing countries, ISIS has achieved near untouchability. With no Sub-Saharan government able to contain its expansion in a resource-rich area, the West, whatever its response, must urgently react before ISIS can multiply its capabilities and international reach to an unparalleled degree. Let us not forget the lessons of Sudan.

Seven Kenyan military personnel serving under African Union peacekeeping mission forces in Somalia (AMISOM) were killed when a bomb targeted military vehicles in southern Somalia on Tuesday.

The blast targeted “a convoy on the road between Dhobley and Hosingow Tuesday, 2nd attack on KDF in Lower Juba region, south of #Somalia in 24hrs,” radio station Garowe Online tweeted about the attack in the vicinity of Hosingow, Middle Jubba near the Somali-Kenyan border.

Somali-based al-Qaeda affiliated militant group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.

Officials in the region confirmed the attack to Anadolu Agency but did not disclose casualty figures.

Al-Shabaab claimed it killed 17 Kenyan soldiers in a bomb attack Sunday near the town of Dhobley, Lower Juba, located 191 kilometers (118 miles) from the port city of Kismayo, the administrative capital of Jubaland.

At least two people, including a police officer, were killed and seven were others wounded in a landmine explosion on Monday that targeted a vehicle carrying police officials in Mogadishu’s Dharkinley district.

At least 13 soldiers have died in an ambush by militants from the Daesh group in volatile northeastern Nigeria, two army sources told to gulftoday.ae.

Heavy gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades hit a military convoy in Gazagana village, 30 kilometres (18 miles) from Yobe state capital Damaturu on Saturday.

“We lost 13 soldiers in this ambush and several were injured,” an officer said.

The convoy was headed for a military base at Buni Yadi, another 20 kilometres from Damaturu, said the second army source, who gave the same death toll, sources told AFP.

“It was a fierce battle and the terrorists also suffered casualties,” he said, without giving a figure.

Heavy gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades hit a military convoy in Gazagana village.

The militant group carries out regular attacks in Buni Yadi region on soldiers and travellers, with the violence spilling over into Borno state.

Since 2009, the militant campaign in northeast Nigeria has focused on Borno where the Boko Haram group is also active.

These militants from the Daesh group split from Boko Haram in 2016 and rose to become a dominant group, sources told AFP.

The violence has spread into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militants.

At least 36,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which has displaced about two million from their homes since 2009.

The Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation Lafiya Dole has inflicted heavy casualties on Boko Haram terrorists in their hideouts at Alagarno and Sambisa Forest area of Borno State, like reported by dailypost.ng.

This was confirmed by the Defence Headquarters on Friday. NAN reports that the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, in a statement on Friday, said that a compound housing some high-value Boko Haram leaders was also taken out.

Enenche said the compound located on 2.3km North East of Kafa in Damboa local government area of Borno and concealed under thick vegetation was being used by the terrorists to coordinate their nefarious activities.

He said the destruction of the locations was achieved through multiple air strikes executed on Jan. 6 when the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jets and attack helicopters to engage the target areas in day and night raids.

According to him, the terrorists were spotted under the dense vegetation of the locations and the NAF attack aircraft took turns in engaging the targets, neutralizing several of them.

“The Armed Forces of Nigeria will not relent until all enemies of the Nation are neutralised and normalcy is restored to all troubled zones,” he said.

Five people believed to be al-Shabaab members, including one leader, were killed in a joint U.S.-Somali airstrike in the vicinity of Saaxa Weyne, Somalia, like reported by upi.com.

According to U.S. Africa Command, no civilians were injured or killed as a result of the operation.

“This strike targeted known al-Shabaab leaders who facilitated finance, weapons, fighters, and explosives. One is suspected of being involved in a previous attack against U.S. and Somali forces,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Dagvin Anderson, Joint Task Force – Quartz commander. “Our continued disruption of al-Shabaab through persistent strikes shows our ongoing commitment to our partners.”

Last week two airstrikes killed three members of the extremist group and destroyed six buildings in their compound.

In December President Donald Trump ordered the removal of about 800 troops from Somalia, a move expected to be complete when President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated later this month.

At the end of December the USS Nimitz Strike Group pulled into position near Somalia last week to protect the troop withdrawal.

Islamist militant group Boko Haram has claimed it abducted the hundreds of school students in northwest Nigeria last week, like reported by rte.ie.

“I am Abubakar Shekau and our brothers are behind the kidnapping in Katsina,” said the leader of the group which was also behind the 2014 abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in Chibok, in a voice message.

Nigerian authorities have stepped up efforts to rescue students abducted by armed men who raided their school and its hostels on Friday.

UN children’s agency UNICEF condemned the assault on the school in Katsina, the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Gunmen on motorcycles stormed the Government Science School at Kankara late on Friday and engaged security forces in a fierce gun battle, forcing hundreds of students to flee and hide in surrounding bushes and forest.

State governor Aminu Bello Masari, who visited the school, said soldiers were working to locate and free the hostages.

“Soldiers are currently in the bushes fighting the bandits. We will do all we can to ensure all the abducted children are reclaimed,” he said.

National police spokesman Frank Mbas said “additional operational and investigative assets to support the ongoing search and rescue operations in Kankara” had been deployed.

Mr Masari said it was still not clear how many students were “in the hands of the bandits” and how many had managed to escape.

“The school has a population of 839 and so far, we are yet to account for 333 students,” Mr Masari said.

Katsina is among several areas in northwest Nigeria that have been repeatedly attacked by “bandits” who kidnap for ransom and rustle cattle.

The population has soared in Pemba, a northern Mozambique port known for its wide bay, but rather than tourists coming for a swim, the newcomers have fled Islamic extremists, like reported by dailymail.co.uk.

In the past few months, boatloads of people with little but the clothes they wear have landed under the palm trees after their homes fell prey to Al-Shabab gunmen swearing allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS).

In October, the violent rebellion entered its fourth year and has reportedly killed more than 2,400 people and displaced half a million, according to the government.

Their villages were torched, many men killed and many young women kidnapped.

After seizing coastal zones that host natural gas installations, Islamist fighters have begun to push to the inland districts of Cabo Delgado province.

The last official census put Pemba’s population at more than 205,000, while more than 130,000 displaced people are estimated to have arrived.

Local authorities are now struggling to provide basic social services, Mayor Florete Simba told AFP.

He deplored “pressure on water, health centres, sanitation and mobility and territorial planning”.

Many refugees try to earn money by buying essential goods in bulk and selling them for a small profit, and a study is underway to determine how many displaced people have remained in Pemba.

The major described being faced with “a huge challenge” that required “diverting existing resources to support the displaced.

“For example, we had to allocate vehicles to transport the displaced people from Pemba to their respective camps” and mobile toilets had to be installed in an old part of town that lies near the shore.

– Vetting potential terrorists –

On top of the infrastructure challenges, newcomers must be vetted given the risk that jihadists could be among them.

“We have had situations of criminality… especially small-scale theft,” the mayor said.

“We have created a security committee, where we have our municipal police who, in coordination with the police of the Republic of Mozambique and local authorities track everyone who arrives.”

In fact, a local resident told AFP: “On the beach, when the boats arrive, the police receive money” and let people through.

Physically at least, terrorists “are people like us, so they should search everyone who enters,” the resident insisted.

Others say they have no choice but to take in entire families who really need support.

Sani Bernardo, 36, has lived in Pemba for 30 years and feels a moral duty to help those who land on the shore.

“I have a displaced family at home. I am not sure how many there are, but there are many,” she told AFP.

“We received them despite the difficulties” such as insufficient food supplies.

“As human beings we receive them without discrimination.”

Fulcane Saide, 25, works for a Pemba fishing company but was born and raised in Paquitequete, the neighbourhood where the beach is, now home to thousands of displaced people.

“Our parents are from these affected areas, so they are like family to us.

“We give shelter without fear because we are sure they need a place to stay. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be here.”

Many of those displaced are gradually settling in, and using their skills to work in the local economy.

Suleimane Saide, 49, arrived three months ago and now works as a carpenter to feed his family, sculpting long fishing boats that line local beaches.

“They attacked my village and took my daughter. I came to Pemba and was welcomed by a family here,” he told AFP.

“I still haven’t forgotten what happened. I do not sleep. My head hurts. I think they should stop this war.”

At least 20 members of the Boko Haram terrorist organization were neutralized in an operation in northeastern Nigeria, the army said according aa.com.tr

Army spokesman Col. Ado Isa said in a statement that the terrorists attempted to carry out an attack in the Askira-Uba local government area of Borno state.

He said one soldier was killed and two others wounded in the operation while four gun trucks of the terrorists were seized.

More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram violence in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, violence by Boko Haram has affected 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others.