Troops of Operation Fireball have killed three Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in different clearances they conducted in Borno State, like reported by dailypost.ng.

Acting Director, Defence Media Operations, Brigadier General Benard Onyeukoin, a statement released on Thursday, indicated that the troops also rescued two women and three children kidnapped by the terrorists.

He recounted that, on 17th November, 2020, troops of 251 Task Force Battalion deployed in Strong Response Area Molai while acting credible intelligence intercepted some Boko Haram criminals and relations of some kidnapped persons making efforts to pay a ransom of Two Million naira cash (2,000,000.00) to the terrorists.

“In a swift reaction, the gallant troops engaged the Boko Haram criminals forcing them to abort the collection of the payment as well as abandon their captives.

“In the aftermath of the decisive encounter, One Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorist was neutralized while others escaped with gunshot wounds. One AK 47 Rifle and one Motorcycle were recovered.

“The victims including 2 women and 3 children were all rescued unhurt”, he said.

In another development, Brigadier General Onyeuko noted that on 17 November 2020, troops of 151 and 202 Battalions conducted an aggressive fighting patrol to clear Boko Haram criminals hideout in the general area of Zaye Ngusa Village and other crossing points neutralised two terrorists.

“Similarly, on 15 November 2020, troops of 26 Task Force Brigade in Strong Response Area Pulka in a well coordinated ambush operation along Pulka – Sabon Gari – Kirawa road intercepted Boko Haram criminals logistics convoy.

“On sighting the terrorists, the troops engaged the criminals with gun fire forcing them to flee abandoning their consignments.

“Items recovered were: 8 bicycles, several bags of grains, assorted packets of drugs and other food items”, he disclosed.

The Acting Director, however, commended troops of Operation Fireball for their resilience, gallantry and professionalism exhibited since the beginning of the operation, while also assuring the entire populace of the Northeast region of Nigerian military high command determination to finally rout the remnants of BHT/ISWAP criminals from their enclaves in the zone.

Gunmen killed at least 34 people in a “gruesome” attack on a passenger bus in west Ethiopia, a part of the country that has recently seen a spate of deadly assaults on civilians, the national human rights body said.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said in a statement that “the estimated number of casualties, currently at 34, is likely to rise” from the attack which occurred Saturday night in the Benishangul-Gumuz region.

A spokesman for the commission, an independent government body, confirmed that the casualties were all deaths.

The EHRC statement said the bus attack occurred in the Debate administrative area, and that “there are reports of similar attacks” in three other areas, as well as “of persons who have fled to seek shelter.”

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed‘s government has provided scant information on recent violence in Benishangul-Gumuz, particularly in Metekel zone, where Debate is located.

Twelve people were killed in an attack in the zone in October, while 15 died in a similar attack in late September.

Addressing lawmakers in October, Abiy said fighters responsible for the killings were receiving training and shelter in neighboring Sudan and that Khartoum’s assistance was needed to stabilize the area.

There is no known link between the violence in Benishangul-Gumuz and military operations in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, which have killed hundreds and sent more than 20,000 people fleeing over the border into Sudan.

Opposition politicians have described the violence in Benishangul-Gumuz as ethnically motivated.

Specifically they say there is a targeted campaign by ethnic Gumuz militias against ethnic Amhara and Agew living in Metekel.

“The unrelenting pace of attacks on civilians in Benishangul-Gumuz calls for higher vigilance and a more coordinated action between regional and federal security forces,” EHRC chief commissioner Daniel Bekele said Sunday.

“We urge the federal and regional security and judicial authorities to work together, and in consultation with the local community, to redesign a regional security strategy that can put a final stop to these attacks.”

The Defence Headquarters says the troops of Operation Fire Ball have overrun some Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists and arrested their Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) makers in the North East, like reported by premiumtimesng.com.

The Acting Director, Defence Media Operations, Benard Onyeuko, a brigadier-general, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

He said that the troops operating under Operation Lafiya Dole have continued aggressive clearance operations to identify terrorists’ enclaves.

Mr Onyeuko said the troops on November 11 embarked on an aggressive fighting patrol to clear Boko Haram elements in their hideout in Ladantar Village in Borno following a credible intelligence.

He said the troops subsequently engaged the terrorists with an overwhelming firepower forcing the terrorists to withdraw in disarray.

He said the troops also gave hot pursuit and inflicted heavy casualties on the fleeing terrorists, killing two and captured one of their IEDs expert.

According to him, equipment captured includes one box of service tools and one gas cylinder suspected to be for making IED.

Mr Onyeuko disclosed that troops of Army Super Camp 19 Bitta successfully repelled the Boko Haram terrorists who attempted to infiltrate the heavily fortified camp.

He said that the troops forced the terrorists to withdraw in disarray due to superior firepower.

He added that the troops of 26 Task Force Brigade Garrison deployed in Gwoza on November 8 observed terrorists advancing to their location in four gun trucks and unconfirmed number of foot soldiers.

According to him, the gallant troops engaged the marauding criminals with heavy firepower neutralising one suicide bomber while others fled in confusion.

Troops of 192 Battalion deployed in Gwoza also foiled an attempted attack on their location the same day.

“After the brief encounter, the criminals escaped with gunshot wounds as traces of blood of dragged casualties were seen during exploitation.

“However, the valiant troops captured the following; one AK 47 Rifle, one AK 47 Rifle Cover, four rounds of Light Machine Gun, 15 rounds of fabricated 7.62mm and one AK 47 Rifle magazine

“Others include: two Rocket Propelled Grenade bombs and 66 rounds of PKT, two rounds of Brownie Machine Gun, 7.62mm links and one Dane Gun.

“The troops of Operation Fire Ball are hereby commended for their resilience, gallantry and professionalism exhibited since the beginning of the Operation.

“They are equally encouraged not to rest on their oars but build on the successes recorded so far.

“The entire populace of the North East region are hereby assured of the Nigerian military high command determination to finally rout the remnants of BHT/ISWAP criminals from their enclaves in this zone,” he said.

Russia plans to build a naval base on Sudan’s Red Sea coast to resupply its fleet, according to a draft agreement with Khartoum signed off by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, according to thearabweekly.com.

The planned deal, published on the Russian government’s website Wednesday, outlines a “logistical support centre” to be set up in Sudan where “repairs and resupply operations and rest for crew members” can take place.

Its capacity will be capped at 300 military and civilian personnel and four ships, including nuclear-powered vessels, the text added.

The base will stand on the northern outskirts of Port Sudan, according to coordinates named in the detailed document.

Russia will also gain the right to transport via Sudan’s ports and airports “weapons, ammunition and equipment” needed for the base to function.

The deal is slated to stand for 25 years — as long as neither party objects to its renewal.

So far Russian authorities have not named a date for the accord to be signed with Khartoum.

Moscow has in recent years turned its eyes to Africa as it renews its geopolitical clout as it competes with the US and China.

In Sudan and east of Africa as well as in neighbouring Libya, countries from the region, especially Turkey and Qatar, are jockeying for military presence.

It has wooed Sudan with military and civilian nuclear cooperation, signing a deal between the countries’ armed forces in May 2019 set to last seven years.

In January last year Russia acknowledged, as a political crisis reached its peak in Sudan, that its military advisors had already been on the ground “for some time” alongside forces loyal to the government.

Former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir asked President Vladimir Putin to “protect” his country from the US when he visited Russia in 2017.

He said military cooperation should be stepped up to “re-equip” Sudan’s armed forces.

Fourteen soldiers in Burkina Faso were killed in an ambush by Islamist militants, the government said, close to a week before a presidential election, like reported by reuters.com.

Worsening insecurity in the West African country is the main issue in the Nov. 22 vote, when President Roch Marc Kabore is seeking a second term.

In recent years, militant groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians and stoked ethnic conflict, part of a wider security crisis across West Africa’s Sahel region.

The 14 soldiers were killed and a further eight wounded in the northern province of Oudalan, near the borders with Mali and Niger, the ministry of communication said in a statement on Thursday.

“The defence and security forces have been deployed in the area and are carrying out search operations and tracking down the perpetrators of this attack,” the ministry said.

A security source said about 10 of the assailants were killed in the ensuing battle. The army had no immediate comment.

Kabore, who faces 12 challengers on the ballot, has promised to restore security to a country that had long been a relative island of stability in a turbulent region.

The militant groups have grown stronger and extended their influence despite the presence of thousands of French and other international troops across the Sahel.

According to the United Nations, over 1 million people in Burkina Faso are displaced, more than one in every 20 inhabitants.

The last time Ethiopian farmer Zeleke Alabachew saw combat was two decades ago, when a border war broke out with neighbouring Eritrea and he joined a ragtag militia that went to the front, like reported by digitaljournal.com.

Now Zeleke is preparing to fight an enemy closer to home: the ruling party of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last week ordered a military campaign that has Africa’s second most populous nation careening towards a potential civil war.

“In total, the militiamen in this area are around 200. We are all set and ready to go,” Zekele said, referring to his hometown of Tekeldengy in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, which borders Tigray to the south.

He spoke while standing in wheatfields with his trusty rifle — the same one he used in the Ethiopia-Eritrea war — suspended from his shoulder by a strap that read “REAL MADRID”.

Thousands of Amhara militia fighters like Zeleke have already deployed to the region’s northern border with Tigray, Mulualem Gemdhin, a regional government security adviser, told AFP.

They say their objectives are straightforward: to help federal and Amhara regional forces respond to an attack on a federal military camp by Tigray’s ruling party that Abiy described last week as the immediate catalyst for the conflict.

The once-powerful Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which has been embroiled in a heated feud with Abiy and his government, says the attack never occurred.

– Fuelling old tensions –

But while the military operation that has seen air strikes, shelling and scores of soldiers wounded is not even a week old, there are already fears it could spread, inflaming old tensions between Amhara and Tigray.

The two regions are mired in a decades-old dispute over land that has sparked violent clashes in the past and that analysts continue to see as a dangerous flashpoint.

For Melkamu Shumye, an Amhara opposition politician, the land question remains “a strategic interest” and “is in everybody’s head and heart” — especially those of militiamen now heading to the Tigray border.

That could undermine the Ethiopian military’s stated goal of keeping the fighting contained to Tigray, as well as diplomats’ frantic efforts to bring the conflict to a swift end altogether.

“Any involvement of Amhara regular and irregular forces in the conflict in west Tigray means it is likely some of them will try and reclaim territory in that area,” said William Davison of the International Crisis Group (ICG).

“This would deepen the conflict, lead to fighting between Tigray and Amhara elements, and make it less likely that the TPLF would agree to a ceasefire.”

– ‘Criminal cliques’ –

The TPLF came to power in 1991 after toppling Mengistu Hailemariam, chairman of the brutal communist Derg regime.

As the ICG noted in a report last June, the Tigray-Amhara land dispute “came into focus” that same year, when the Tigrayans allegedly annexed land that, in the eyes of the Amharas, was rightfully theirs.

The disputed land mostly falls in western Tigray, where much of the past week’s fighting has unfolded.

In Amhara, lingering grievances over this perceived injustice helped fuel anti-government protests that swept Abiy to the premiership in 2018.

Even with the TPLF now sidelined from power under Abiy, tensions over the land remain unresolved.

Over the past week in Gondar, the largest city in northern Amhara, residents have found a variety of ways to support forces taking the fight to the TPLF.

Anmut Mulat, head of one of the city’s sub-districts, immediately started collecting money and Ethiopian staples — injera flatbread and powder to make shiro stew — from his constituents, most of whom contributed without being asked.

Standing beside a table where donated injera was drying out in the sun, he told AFP he fully supported the government’s stated goal of “liberating” Tigray from its ruling party.

“Our goal is to bring to justice the criminal cliques, the people who we call criminals who are currently leading in Tigray,” Anmut said.

-‘Our brothers and sisters’-

Anmut stressed, though, that his animosity did not extend to the Tigrayan population as a whole.

“Our societies are integrated. We’ve been living together for a very long time. You can’t separate us,” he said.

Abiy has taken a similar line, railing against the TPLF while insisting in a Twitter post Sunday that Tigrayans writ large should not be discriminated against.

Such sentiments have also been on display at blood-donation tents that have popped up in Gondar.

However some residents made clear they saw their donations as a contribution to just one side of the war effort.

“This regional government victimised so many Ethiopians for the last 27 years,” said Asebe Assefa, a 29-year-old banker, referring to the TPLF.

“The people want revenge,” he added.

Others said they just wanted to reduce fatalities resulting from the fighting, and that they’d be equally happy if their blood saved the life of an Amhara or a Tigrayan combatant.

“The Tigray people are our brothers and sisters, also our fathers and mothers,” said police officer Sajin Misganaw Yohannes.

 

 

 

Inside a military base in northern Mali, a concrete bollard emblazoned with French, Estonian, and Swedish flags marks a zone reserved for a new anti-jihadist unit of elite European troops, like reported by thedefensepost.com.

Dubbed Task Force Takuba, the new joint deployment marks a coup for France, which has sought partners in its long fight against Islamist militants in Africa’s vast Sahel region.

French troops first deployed to Mali in 2013 after a jihadist insurgency broke out in the country the previous year.

But despite their presence, jihadist violence has spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in the conflict, and hundreds of thousands more have had to flee their homes.

Anger at the seemingly endless insurgency in Mali also fueled protests against president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, culminating in his ouster in a military coup on August 18.

At the base in the city of Gao, about a dozen French and Estonian soldiers from Takuba sit under an awning, surrounded by storage containers and light military vehicles.

They discuss their first mission: A sweep operation conducted in the lawless Mali-Burkina Faso border region last month, alongside local troops and French regulars.

Takuba troops are tasked with supporting elite Malian soldiers, who use motorbikes and pick-up trucks to zip into territory lost to jihadists at high speed.

“Malian armed forces arrived alone in the villages so that the population could see them,” said the commander of the Franco-Estonian unit, who gave his name as Aurelien, while the Europeans worked “discreetly.”

Despite their different backgrounds, the polyglot force had little trouble working together.

“For our unit, it’s the first time we work with the French,” said an Estonian soldier. “So far there is no problem of interoperability.”

Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and the United Kingdom all made a political commitment to send special forces to Mali in March. French special forces will also participate.

But Takuba is still in its initial stages, and it is not yet clear when the different countries will deploy their troops — with many countries requiring prior parliamentary approval.

‘Other Europeans Will Join Us’
France currently has 5,100 soldiers spread across the Sahel as part of its Operation Barkhane — and has lost some 45 soldiers since first intervening in Mali in 2013.

At a French forward base in Menaka, a town about an hour’s drive east from Gao, engineers are preparing for the arrival of more European special-forces units.

A French commander who gave his name as Cedric said he expected Czech counterparts to arrive soon. The Czech parliament approved their deployment last month.

A successful beginning for Takuba is considered crucial to its long-term success.

And for France, which is hoping to eventually draw down its own military commitment in the region, the stakes are high.

A 150-strong Swedish unit is also scheduled to deploy early next year, along with three Blackhawk helicopters.

This unit — unlike other European contingents in Takuba — will carry out rapid-response missions instead of shadowing local troops.

Italy too has authorized the deployment of up to 200 soldiers, but it is not yet clear when they will arrive.

“We hope that other Europeans will join us,” said Commander Aurelien, pointing to the need for extra support in securing the lawless border region in Mali and Burkina Faso.

Nine women were reportedly abducted by suspected Boko Haram insurgents in the attack on Takulashi village of Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State.

Details of the attack on the remote village, which were received yesterday further revealed that eleven persons were feared killed in the attack as against the seven members of the Civilian Joint Task earlier reported to have been killed in the Sunday’s siege.

Some residents of the village had told that seven members of the CJTF and local hunters who were part of the group that engaged the insurgents were killed.

Also in the early report, foodstuffs and livestock were said to have been carted away by the terrorist group who also abducted yet-to-be ascertained number of people, male and female.

It was also gathered that the engagement of the insurgents and vigilantes was on for over an hour.

Some of the residents of the village who spoke to journalists yesterday, said 11 men were killed in the siege.

They alleged that the insurgents attacked mourners in Takulashi village, barely 15 kilometres to the local government headquarters in Chibok town.

The villagers said the insurgents opened fire on the mourners targeting and killing 11 men, after which they picked out and abducted women that met their fancy.

The villagers said there was no military or police presence, adding that the vigilantes and the unarmed villagers were left at the mercy of better armed criminals.

Messages sent to both military or police authorities were not responded to as at the time of filing the report.

The French government said its forces had killed more than 50 jihadists aligned to al-Qaeda in air strikes in central Mali, like reported by indiatoday.in.

The offensive took place on Friday in an area near the borders of Burkina Faso and Niger, where government troops are struggling to rout an Islamic insurgency, French Defence Minister Florence Parly said after meeting members of Mali’s transitional government.

“On October 30 in Mali, the Barkhane force conducted an operation that neutralised more than 50 jihadists and confiscated arms and material,” Parly said, referring to the French-led anti-jihadist Operation Barkhane.

She added that around 30 motorcycles were destroyed.

THE OPERATION
Parly, who earlier met Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou and her Nigerien counterpart Issoufou Katambe before heading to Bamako, said the operation was launched after a drone detected a “very large” motorcycle caravan in the “three borders” area.

When the jihadists moved under trees to try and escape surveillance, the French force sent in two Mirage jets and a drone to launch missiles, leading to the “neutralisation” of the insurgents, Parly said.

Military spokesman Colonel Frederic Barbry said, “four terrorists have been captured”.

Explosives and a suicide vest had been found, he told reporters in a conference call, saying that the group had been “about to attack (an army) position in the region”.

Barbry also said another operation, this time targeting the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, was also underway, with a total of 3,000 soldiers.

The results of the operation, launched about a month ago, would be announced in the coming days, he said.

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SIGNIFICANT BLOW
Parly said the action marked a “significant blow” to the Ansarul Islam group which she said was linked to al-Qaeda via the GSIM alliance led by Iyad Ag Ghaly.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MALI?
Ghaly has emerged as a top jihadist leader in the Sahel since the death of the Qaeda commander Abdelmalek Droukdel, who was killed by French forces in Mali in June.

The United Nations has some 13,000 troops deployed in Mali as part of its peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA, while France has 5,100 deployed in the Sahel region.

Mali has been struggling to contain a brutal jihadist insurgency which first emerged in the north of the country in 2012, overtaking a rebellion by mostly ethnic Tuareg separatists.

Former colonial power France launched a military operation to drive back the Islamists in 2013, but fighting has spread to central Mali, and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes.

Vast swathes of Mali lie outside effective government control. Frustration over the seemingly endless conflict contributed to mass protests against president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita this year, culminating in his ousting in a military coup on August 18.

Mali’s new interim government, which was appointed to rule for 18 months before staging elections, appears willing to engage in dialogue.

Last month, it secured the release of four hostages held by Islamist groups — including 75-year-old Sophie Petronin, the last remaining French hostage in the world — in exchange for about 200 prisoners, some of whom are thought to have been jihadists.

 

At least 13 people died and another six were abducted in an attack by the Boko Haram Islamist group in northeastern Nigeria, the local Daily Trust newspaper reported on Monday, citing its sources.

According to the news outlet, the militants attacked the village of Takulashe in the country’s northeastern Borno state on Sunday.

As a result, the whole village is said to have been razed to the ground, with all of its livestock and farm produce, as well as six people, taken by the attackers. Thirteen are reported to have been killed in the raid.

In 2009, Boko Haram launched an armed insurrection against the Nigerian government to introduce sharia law throughout the country. In 2015, it aligned itself with Daesh.