An al Qaeda affiliate threatened attacks on Western companies’ operations across North and West Africa, calling them “legitimate targets” and urging Muslims to boycott them.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has launched raids on installations in the past, in particular in Algeria where it carried out a major assault on a gas plant in 2013 that killed dozens of workers.

Its fighters have also carried out high-profile attacks on hotels frequented by foreigners in Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.

“This statement calls to boycott all Western companies and foundations … that operate in the Islamic Maghreb … and the countries of the Sahel, and gives a warning to them that they are legitimate target for the mujahideen,” it said.

The statement, which was circulated on social media and translated by the extremism watchdog SITE, singled out France – the former colonial power in much of North and West Africa – and its allies in the region.

“We have decided to strike that which prolongs the continuity of these agent governments and enables the French occupier to provide a lavish life and prosperity to its people,” it said.

The region has witnessed a rise in Islamist militancy since an uprising in Libya toppled longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi, sparking chaos during which armed factions looted government weapons stocks.

France led a military intervention in Mali in 2013 to drive back Islamist groups that had seized the country’s desert north a year earlier.

Paris still has thousands of troops deployed in West Africa’s arid Sahel region as part of an operation to stamp out militant groups, and the United States is also ramping up its presence in the region.

An explosion killed at least five people and wounded 10 in a market for the stimulant leaf khat in southern Somalia, police and residents said, and al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab said it was behind the blast, APAreports quoting Reuters.

The blast occurred in the busy market in the town of Wanlaweyn in the Lower Shabelle region, about 90 km (55 miles) to the northwest of the coastal capital Mogadishu.

Given Wanlaweyn’s lack of hospitals able to take in multiple casualties, residents said they took many of the wounded to their homes for the time being after the afternoon blast near a busy cluster of khat kiosks.

Police said they were investigating whether the explosion was caused by a planted bomb or by a suicide bomber.

“The blast at the khat kiosks killed at least five civilians and injured more others including soldiers. We are investigating whether there are more casualties and the cause of the blast,” police Captain Farah Ismail told Reuters.

“The death toll may rise,” he added.

Residents said the kiosks were busy with soldiers buying khat. “I counted five dead people, including two shoe shiners, a mother who sold khat and two customers. There were 10 other injured civilians,” shopkeeper Ahmed Mohamud told Reuters.

“I could also see several soldiers in uniform being transported from the blast scene but I could not confirm whether they were dead or wounded.”

Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operation spokesman, said the group was behind the attack and that its target was the soldiers.

Al Shabaab is fighting to overthrow Somalia’s central government and establish its own rule based on its interpretation of Islamic law.

Since being pushed out of Mogadishu in 2011, the group has lost control of most of Somalia’s cities and towns. But it retains a strong presence in regions outside the capital.

Despite military successes scored against Boko Haram jihadists, it will take years to “completely eliminate” the group, a United Nations (UN) envoy told AFP.

“Boko Haram has proven to be a resilient group…I think it will take time to totally eliminate,” said Muhammad Ibn Chambas, special envoy to the UN secretary general for West Africa and the Sahel.

“What we are seeing is that Boko Haram has become part of an international terrorism network.”

Chambas was speaking on the sidelines of a Lake Chad regional summit in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and birthplace of Boko Haram.

Governors from four countries straddling the lake – Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon – are meeting for two days to discuss regional cooperation on stabilisation, peace building and sustainable development in the area.

His remarks come at a time the Nigerian government and military is insisting that the war against Boko Haram is over, despite a recent spate of attacks by the extremists.

On 1 May, at least 86 people were killed in twin suicide attacks targetting a mosque and a nearby market in the town of Mubi in Adamawa state.

Chambas said that the Islamist insurgents were likely still holding on to territory in the region.

“It is relative,” he said in response to reports that Boko Haram was holding territory in the northeast states of Yobe and Borno.

“As long as they are not totally defeated, obviously they are present in some areas”.

The Islamist insurgency has killed at least 20,000 people in nine years of violence that has spilled from northeast Nigeria into Niger, Chad and Cameroon, creating a dire humanitarian crisis.

The four countries formed the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to fight the Islamic extremists who criss-cross the porous borders in the remote region.

Chambas commended the MNJTF counter terrorism fight as “appreciably successful” but warned it was far from over.

“We of course ask that the MNJTF remains vigilant in its fight against Boko Haram, we cannot take it for granted and assume they have been totally defeated”.

In December 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari declared Boko Haram had been “technically defeated” after reclaiming swathes of territory back from the jihadists.

Nine soldiers from the Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) were killed by Somalia’s Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab yesterday, the Washington Post reported.

An improvised explosive device ripped through the military vehicles while the KDF were crossing the border en route their military base on the outskirt of Dhobley, in Lower Juba Region, Somalia. Nine KDF soldiers were killed and some 15 others injured in the attack.

Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack.

“Earlier today, I was appalled and saddened to learn that we had lost nine young patriots to a cowardly terrorist attack in Somalia,” Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s president, said in a statement.

“These men gave their lives for their country, and for peace; we must, and we will, honour their service, their sacrifice and their valour,” Kenyatta continued.

“Everything will continue until the evil terrorists of Al-Shabaab are defeated, and the people of Somalia are safe once more. We owe victory to the fallen. You may be sure we will win, for we have right and might on our side.”

Last Sunday, Al-Shabaab ambushed a Somali military convoy near Baidoa, the interim capital of the southwest state. Six Somali National Army (SNA) soldiers were killed in the ambush, while three Al-Shabaab fighters were killed in battle.

The uptick of violence has prompted the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to beef up pre-emptive attacks against Al-Shabaab. AMISOM forces believe that Al-Shabaab is to increaseattacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which will begin in mid-May. The usual targets are market places, hotels and AMISOM military bases.

The commander of the Ugandan forces, part of the AMISOM mission, called on AMISOM troops to be vigilant and reinforce security with local residents to thwart attacks.

Al-Shabaab has been subject to attack by the AMISOM, backed by some regional states in Africa. The United States has also executed 745 targeted drone strikes and counter-terrorism raids to neutralise threats across Somalia since 2004.

A militia in Mali claims it found the vehicle used by four American soldiers killed in an ambush by Islamist militants in neighboring Niger last fall. The discovery indicates how fighters linked to the Islamic State likely traveled between the two countries, like reported by usatoday.com.

As the militia of ethnic Tuareg soldiers discuss how to return the vehicle to U.S. authorities, the Islamic State is pushing deeper into this poor, West African country and raising fears of more violence.

Mali’s minister of foreign affairs, Tiéman Hubert Coulibaly, said he was concerned that the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, would redeploy to Africa as the U.S-led coalition quashes the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

“The current momentum in the Middle East can have consequences for the stability of Mali” and the surrounding region here, Coulibaly said.

Mali already has an active chapter of al-Qaeda, which drove a car bomb into a military base near Timbuktu on April 14, killing a United Nations peacekeeper and wounding seven French soldiers.

“Three days don’t go by without hearing the news of an assassination by the terrorists,” said Hamady Touré, a commercial spice salesman. “The worst thing is that vehicles carrying civilians drive on explosive devices that the terrorists place.”

Those concerns mount despite an international response to the terrorist threat in Mali. The U.N. sent 15,000 peacekeepers to Mali five years ago. France has 4,000 troops in this former French colony. Five nearby countries — Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger — created a joint force of 5,000 troops to secure their borders against militants.

The Tuareg militia that claims it found the Americans’ four-wheel-drive Toyota in March also said it is an important defense against ISIS.

“The main target of these armed terrorists is none other than the local authorities and religious leaders,” said Fahad Almahmoud, a Tuareg militia spokesman.

The Tuareg soldiers are now allies of Mali’s government, but until three years ago they fought against the regime for an independent country.

Tiébilé Dramé, an opposition politician, said the government shouldn’t depend on militias and needs to do more. He said more terrorists appear to be moving into Mali despite the international help, so ordinary citizens see little reason to believe in their leaders.

“The fault is the current governance is bad,” Dramé said. “More than 500 schools are closed in the center of the country because of poor security.”

Mali’s security situation has been precarious the past several years. In November 2015, heavily armed gunmen stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, the Mali capital, killing 20 people. A year ago, several local extremist groups announced they had banded into a bigger organization affiliated with al-Qaeda.

A U.N. report in March said the militias here have too much power. The report said the Tuaregs and another militia allied with the Malian government conducted extra-judicial executions, made illegal arrests, recruited child soldiers and had other human rights violations in northern Mali.

“It is necessary that both the government and the armed groups investigate serious violations and abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law,” said Mongi Hamdi, a U.N. special representative in Mali when the report was published. “This is in the interest of victims’ rights and for the reconciliation and establishment of a lasting peace in Mali.”

In the south, Mali’s army and the Dozo — traditional armed hunters who act as an independent defense force — have been accused of similar abuses against the Fulani ethnic community, a Muslim group often loyal to extremists.

“The Malian army is making summary executions of civilians suspected of terrorism,” said Nouhoum Cissé, a member of a Fulani defense organization. When a Fulani appears in the central part of the country, “you can be suspected of terrorism,” he said.

Malians and Fulanis lived together in harmony for centuries but are now poised to kill each other, Cissé said. He said terror attacks have also driven the indigenous Dogon people to create self-defense militias. Dogon and Fulani groups have clashed as a result.

“The question is who benefits from this situation. It does not benefit the Dogon. It does not benefit the Fulani,” Cissé said. “Those who benefit are the terrorist groups.”

The Kenyans aged between 18 to 38 years were reportedly lured by a resident in the coastal city of Malindi, like reported by capitalfm.co.ke.

Two among the 13 are said to be from Bargoni in Hindi area of Lamu County while the other 11 are from Malindi.

The 13 were flown to Malindi from Kiunga by KDF personnel where they were being held and were received by Malindi Police Chief Matawa Muchangi.

The returnees were recruited on March 26, 2018 and KDF managed to rescue them on April 29 after some reported to their families and the matter brought to the attention of security personnel.

Muchangi said the Kenya Defence Forces personnel in Somalia rescued them at Ras Kamboni on April 29 and handed them over to Kenyan police to facilitate reunion with their families.

“They were today flown from Kiunga in a KDF chopper and brought to Malindi and are currently being held at the Malindi Police Station waiting to be reunited with their families,” said Muchangi.

He said security forces in Kilifi County have launched a manhunt for three Al Shabaab recruiters who are being the syndicate.

The three Mohamed Ali, Abdalla Shekue, Yusuf Ali coordinated a plan to recruit 13 youths who unknowingly accepted a job offer of fishing only to find themselves being pushed to join the Al Shabaab in Somalia.

The National Police Service (NPS) is pursuing local Al-Shabaab contacts who aided three Kenyans to sneak to Somalia with the aim of joining the terror group, like reported by capitalfm.co.ke.

NPS Director for Corporate Communications, Charles Owino, said in a statement on Wednesday the contacts assisted Mohamed Abdalla Asman from Nairobi’s Majengo area, and Hamisi Hemed and Ali Ahmed Ali both from Malindi to join the Somalia-based terrorist group for training early this month.

The three men are said to be planning an attack on their return to the country according to Owino.

Of the three, Asman alias Papa or Raymond has previously been charged and convicted after a botched plan to travel to Somalia for Al Shabaab training; serving a jail term of five years from October 4, 2013, to July 12, 2017.

Police at the time identified Sheikh Ibrahim Umar alias Amru, a religious leader at the Answar Sunna Mosque, as the key facilitator of Asman’s aborted trip to Somalia.

Members of the public have been urged to remain vigilant and report any suspicious individual to the police service.

The police also warned Kenyan families and businessmen facilitating and abetting radicalization and terrorist activities of firm action.

“We wish to warn parents, guardians or religious leaders withholding information on radicalization that they are liable for prosecution for abetting crime,” Owino said in the statement released to newsrooms on Wednesday.

“Equally the parents and guardians risk losing their children to terrorism and eventually destroying their families and the entire community,” he warned.

China will dispatch 395 peacekeepers in May to Mali for one year on a UN mission.

Officially formed on Wednesday, the battalion will be China’s sixth batch of peacekeepers to be deployed in Mali.

It consists of a 170-person guard unit, 155 sappers and a medical unit of 70.

They will take on tasks such as repairing roads, bridges and runways in mission areas, protecting the headquarters in war zones, and treating the sick and wounded.

Among the 395 peacekeepers, a chemical defense brigade has been on the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan five times, and nearly 100 officers and soldiers have conducted peacekeeping missions more than twice.

African troops battling an al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia for the past decade stand little chance of withdrawing by their deadline in two years as the government remains fragile and a spike in militant violence has drawn in U.S. forces.