At least seven Niger soldiers were killed and more than a dozen others wounded last week in an attack by Boko Haram militants in the country’s southeast, the government has said according to news24.com.

“The provisional toll for the cowardly terror attack in Toummour is seven dead, seventeen wounded and one soldier missing,” said a cabinet statement.

Toummour is located in the Diffa administrative region, which lies on the border with Nigeria and Chad. It has suffered a string of deadly Boko Haram attacks since February 2015, although the area has been relatively calm in recent months.

Last week, the United Nations said there had been a sharp fall in the number of Niger civilians kidnapped, killed or wounded by Boko Haram last year, citing an overall toll of 141 compared with 227 a year earlier.

It did not detail the number of military casualties.

Boko Haram launched an insurgency in northeast Nigeria in 2009 that in 2015 spilt into Niger. It also affects the country’s other neighbours, Chad and Cameroon.

Overall, more than 20 000 people have been killed and more than 2.6 million displaced in the conflict.

Boko Haram suicide bombers killed 12 people and injured 48 others in an attack on Wednesday on the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, officials from the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) for Borno said.

In recent weeks, Nigeria’s military has embarked on an offensive against the Islamist insurgency in the northeastern state of Borno, the epicenter for much of the conflict, which began in 2009.

That has not stopped Boko Haram’s attacks, which target both civilians and the military.

Two bombers struck a market in the Muna Garage area on the outskirts of Maiduguri late on Wednesday afternoon, the SEMA officials said.

Muna Garage is the site of a camp for displaced people and a frequent target of Boko Haram attacks.

In the wake of the attack, the smell of burned blood lingered while parts of the market were still ablaze, according to a Reuters witness.

On Monday, a Boko Haram faction released a video purporting to show some of the girls kidnapped from the town of Chibok nearly four years ago, as well as a downed Nigerian military aircraft and a group of policewomen abducted last year.

Britain will launch a new military mission in Africa with the French because of fears Islamic State cells wiped out in countries such as Libya are re-forming with Al-Qaeda to plot attacks in Europe, like reported by dailymail.co.uk.

The Prime Minister will send three Chinook helicopters, including up to 100 troops, to Mali, to help French forces as they combat extremism in the ‘ungoverned spaces’ in the region.

Theresa May will use a summit with French President Emmanuel Macron today at Sandhurst military academy to announce a new era of greater cross-Channel security co-operation.

Britain’s three spy chiefs from MI5, MI6, GCHQ and France’s two intelligence chiefs met in advance of the summit in the UK to discuss tackling terror.

This was the first time ever that the five intelligence chiefs were brought together in a single meeting and comes as the PM tries to persuade the French to give Britain a trade deal.

The PM said: ‘Today’s summit will underline that we remain committed to defending our people and upholding our values as liberal democracies in the face of any threat, whether at home or abroad.

‘But our friendship has always gone far beyond defence and security and the scope of today’s discussions represents its broad and unique nature.’

She added: ‘And while this Summit takes place as the UK prepares to leave the EU, this does not mean that the UK is leaving Europe.

‘What is clear from the discussions we will have today is that a strong relationship between our two countries is in the UK, France and Europe’s interests, both now and into the future.’

French forces have been battling extremists in North Africa since 2014, with 3,000 currently involved in the anti-insurgent Operation Barkhane across the Sahel region.

Outlining the threat from the region to Britain, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘Those ungoverned spaces are spaces from which you can plot terrorist attacks on Europe.’

There are concerns that Islamic State fighters defeated in the coastal city of Sirte in Syria have fled to countries in the Sahel region, such as Mali.

Currently the only British support in Mali has been the use of a C17 Globemaster transport plane.

But now three CH-47 Chinooks will ‘provide a niche capability providing logistical support but also saving lives by avoiding the need to move troops by ground where they are more vulnerable to attack’.

A HMG spokesman said: ‘Recent terrorist attacks across Europe underline the scale of the cross-border challenge we face in keeping our citizens safe.

‘We will work together to deepen and enhance cooperation on law enforcement, security and criminal justice, to improve the safety of citizens across Europe and to strengthen our internal security capabilities.’

The two countries will also continue to strengthen their co-operation to ‘ensure that the internet cannot be used as a safe space for terrorists and criminals’.

The PM will also pledge £50m of humanitarian aid to save lives in African countries suffering conflict, epidemics and natural disasters. The Home Office will also help key partners in Africa to tackle immigration crime.

Mrs May and the President, who is making his first trip to the UK since winning last year’s election, are expected to have a private lunch before crunch talks at the officer training academy.

They will attend a reception at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum tonight.

Several Al-Shabaab militants were killed in heavy fighting between Somali National Army and the militant group near Baidoa town, southwest Somalia, officials said to china.org.cn.

Security Minister of Southwest State in Somalia Hassan Hussein Mohamed told Xinhua by phone that the militants’ attempt to capture two areas was thwarted.

“The terrorists attacked SNA and Southwest State forces’ bases in Daynuney and Gof-gudud, north and east of Baidoa town, but their attempt to capture the two areas were foiled,” Mohamed said.

Mohamed said several militants were killed and others wounded during the early morning fighting.

“There are no casualties on our side and we remain at our bases while continuing operations against terrorists in the region now,” Mohamed added.

Other sources said at least five militants were killed in the attack on Daynuney, while one government soldier was injured in Gof-gudud.

Both bases locate in the Bay region of Somalia. Residents also confirmed the militants launched simultaneous attacks on the two regional military bases.

Residents said the militants briefly seized Gof-gudud Burey before regional forces retook it, noting that troops at Daynuney held their positions, repulsing attack.

Al-Shabaab militants claimed to have captured Daynuney location, about 25 km east of Baidoa town, and Gof-gudud location, about 30 km north of Baidoa.

Some residents in Baidoa told Xinhua the militants briefly captured the two locations and later looted materials and medicines at a police station and a hospital in Gof-gudud.

The latest assault by security forces came amid increased attacks by the Al-Qaida-allied militant group, which is targeting government and African Union bases in Somalia.

Following the explosion that rocked Okpella, the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has directed the commissioner of police and the Director of Department of State Services (DSS) in the state, to commence search for explosives and other weapons and dis-arm the militia group operating in the community, like reported by thebreakingtimes.com.

A suspected bomb factory was uncovered in Iddo, Okpella, after one of the explosives exploded. One of the suspected bomb makers was killed in the explosion. One of the victim’s legs was also chopped off by the blast. .The building where the suspected bombs were manufactured is a three- bedroom apartment which the villagers said was occupied by some men from Kogi State

A source in the village said youths in the area mobilised and nabbed some occupants in the building. One of the occupants, who reportedly escaped with a car loaded with prepared explosives, arms and ammunitions, abandoned the vehicle along a bush path and fled. .President of Iddo Youth Movement, Mohammad Mohammad, said: “We all came out when we heard the sound and informed the people that explosion killed somebody. When we got to the place one of the occupants we met immediately escaped in a vehicle. .

So the youths gave him a hot chase shouting that he had killed somebody and he was subsequently arrested and taken to the Divisional Police Officer before his onward transfer to the area commander.” Wife of one of the suspects and her children were also taken into custody.

“We are taking them for Jihad,” al Shabab militants reportedly told teachers at a school in Somalia, like reported by dw.com

“They (al Shabab) gathered the teachers in an office and locked them up, and then the militants came back and searched the classes and took the children they wanted,” a teacher from Burhakaba district, northwest of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, explained. When the teachers asked where they were taking the children, they were told that they were taking them away to fight.

The militantsare demanding children aged between eight and 15 years for recruitment into the group, Human Rights Watch (HRW’s) regional office in Kenya revealed. HRW says that the recruitment started in mid-2017 and has so far gathered thousands of children for indoctrination after terrorizing elders, teachers in Islamic religious schools, and communities in rural areas.

According to HRW, the armed group has opened several training centers, under the guise of being religious schools in areas under their control. They use strengthened indoctrination, they teach children of a very young age and have pressured teachers into teaching al Shabab approved programs in schools.

“The last two years have seen a dramatic increase in the abduction of children by al Shabab,” explains Zama Neff who heads the children’s rights division of Human Rights Watch. “Children have been taken from their schools, from their homes and from the streets. Nowhere is safe.”

Internal displacement

HRW documented that in September 2017 al Shabab fighters forcibly took at least 50 boys and girls from two schools in Burhakaba District and transported them to Bulo Fulay, which witnesses say hosts a number of religious schools and a major training facility. The militants came two weeks later to the same village where they demanded 25 more children. Residents say that even though the militants didn’t give a reason for taking the children, they know that it’s because they want to indoctrinate and recruit them.

“Al Shabab has forced children to service fighters in its ranks, sending them to the frontline, strategically placing them in front of adult fighters to protect them,” Neff says. “They are cannon fodder.”

As a result many children have had to flee from their homes. In August  2017, an official from the coastal town of Adale in Middle Shabelle told the media that his community was harboring around 500 children. Most of them were between the age of 10 and 15. They had fled forced recruitment in the neighboring regions of Galgudud, Hiran and Middle Shabelle. According to HRW, these children end up in dire conditions in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps where they are unlikely to find security or schooling and may be forced to work to survive.

“The government and international actors need to make sure that the children that have been displaced are receiving protection and access to education,” Laetitia Bader, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch explains. She called on al Shabab to stop the recruitment of children, and said that the government or other actors in charge on the ground should take measures to curb the militants’ operations.

The federal government yesterday said it had launched a new counter-insurgency offensive, in partnership with Cameroon, against Boko Haram terrorists in the Lake Chad region, like reported by thisdaylive.com.

Minister of Defence, Mansir Dan-Ali stated this, yesterday, at the National Mosque in Abuja, shortly after the Jumat prayer for the 2018-Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration (AFRD).

Dan-Ali said: “In the North East, I can say they have made great success, as I am talking to you there is an operation going on involving Nigeria and Cameroon. So, we are looking at the armed forces of other countries uniting with us to forge ahead.”

On the prevailing national security threats posed by herdsmen killings, he said: “I can assure you that the Armed Forces of Nigeria is ready to defend our territorial integrity, despite all the internal security challenges.”

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Navy, yesterday, announced the appointment of three new Flag Officers Commanding (FOCs). 

Acting Director of Information, Navy, Captain Suleiman Dahun explained that those appointed include, “Rear Admiral Akinjide Akinrinade for the Logistics Command, Oghara, Delta State; Rear Admiral Matthew Emuekpere for the Eastern Naval Command, Calabar, Cross River State; and Rear Admiral Saleh Usman who is taking over at the Central Naval Command, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Boko Haram fighters have killed at least 20 loggers, militia members and residents told AFP on Friday, in the latest attack against civilians in northeast Nigeria.

The attack happened on Monday when gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on a group of loggers collecting firewood at Kaje village, near the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.

“They (Boko Haram) killed 20 people in the attack. Fifteen others are missing and presumed kidnapped by the attackers,” civilian militia leader Ibrahim Liman told AFP.

Details of the attack have been slow to emerge due to limited communications infrastructure after years of fighting in the remote region.

Kaje resident Shuaibu Sidi corroborated Liman’s account and said his brother was among the dead.

Nigeria’s government and military maintain that the Islamist militants, who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, are on the verge of defeat.

The conflict, which began in 2009, has killed more than 20,000 and forced some 2.6 million others from their homes, triggering a dire humanitarian crisis in the region.

But despite clear military gains in major towns and cities, hard-to-reach rural communities remain vulnerable to attack.

On December 30, 25 loggers were shot dead at Maiwa village, which is three kilometres (nearly two miles) from Kaje, and three truck-loads of firewood was burned.

Liman said: “We believe the same gunmen behind the Maiwa attack were responsible for the Kaje attack.”

– Previous attacks –

The attackers were believed to have come from Boko Haram’s main enclave in the Sambisa Forest area of Borno, which is accessible from the two logging sites, he added.

Many of those displaced by the conflict are forced to rely on food handouts from aid agencies.

Others have turned to felling trees in the semi-desert region to sell as firewood and use the proceeds to buy food.

Boko Haram has increasingly targeted loggers in their armed campaign to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

They have accused them of spying for the military and the civilian militia, which assists troops with security.

At least 31 loggers have not been seen since January 2 and are believed to have been abducted near the town of Gamboru, on the border with Cameroon.

They had left the town to fetch firewood in a Boko Haram hotspot, 15 kilometres away, where 10 other loggers had been killed two weeks earlier.

In August three loggers were decapitated near Aisa-Wulomari village, some 40 kilometres from Maiduguri, as they returned to the city.

In April eight loggers were killed and their bodies burnt at Kayamla village, 10 kilometres from Maiduguri, as they collected firewood in the bush.

Mali’s army is to deploy patrols in an operation to fight jihadists in the country’s restive centre, according to documents and sources consulted by AFP, as the government expresses concern over extreme instability in the area.

Newly-appointed Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga said last week “urgent measures” were required to address Al-Qaeda-linked groups who control territory in the area.

The eventual deployment of around 1,000 soldiers is aimed at “assuring the security of people and goods as well as fighting the jihadists,” a Malian defence ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A security plan will include foot and motorbike patrols in the community, copying the modus operandi of jihadist networks in the area, according to a document outlining the measures.

Meanwhile a “mobile government” would provide basic services to populations excluded from access by living in at-risk areas, notably in the education sector, the document seen by AFP said.

The defence ministry source said the inclusion of foreign forces operating in the country could not be ruled out, though the United Nations mission, French troops and soldiers from the G5 Sahel nations operating in Mali have not confirmed they would take part.

Long-simmering inter-ethnic tensions have been exploited by Islamists in central Mali as the state has retreated, propogating violence that was once limited to the north.

In March and April 2012, jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda seized control of the arid north of Mali, including celebrated ancient cities such as Gao and Timbuktu, centres of trans-Saharan trade and learning.

The extremists were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013, but large tracts of the country remain lawless.

The UN’s Mali mission is the world’s most dangerous active deployment, with more than 140 peacekeepers killed since its launch, 89 of them by enemy action.