A woman blew herself up and killed 27 other people at a market in northeast Nigeria on Tuesday in an attack bearing the hallmark of Boko Haram militants, two local officials said according to nbcnews.com.

Two more suicide bombers detonated their devices at the gates to a nearby refugee camp, wounding many more people, an emergency services official said.

In all, 83 people were wounded in the three explosions near the city of Maiduguri, the epicenter of the long conflict between government forces and Boko Haram.

Nigeria’s military last year wrested back large areas from the Islamist insurgents. But the militants have struck back with renewed zeal since June, killing at least 143 people before Tuesday’s bombings and weakening the army’s control.

The group, which has waged an eight-year war to create an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria, provoked international outrage by kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls, known as the Chibok Girls, in April 2014.

Its better-known faction, led by Abubakar Shekau and based itself mainly in the sprawling Sambisa forest, has been characterized by its use of women and children as suicide bombers targeting mosques and markets.

In the meantime, a rival faction — based in the Lake Chad region, led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi and boasting ties to ISIS — has quietly become a deadly force capable of carrying out highly organized attacks.

Last month, an oil prospecting team was captured by al-Barnawi’s group. At least 37 people, including members of the team, died when rescuers from the military and vigilantes attempted to free them.

The Boko Haram insurgency has killed 20,000 people and forced 2.7 million more to flee their homes in the last eight years.

Former Somali insurgent leader Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur has defected to the government, a military official said on Sunday, severing ties with Islamist group al Shabab two months after the U.S. quietly removed a $5 million reward for his capture.

“Robow and his seven bodyguards are now in Hudur with local officials. He will be flown to Mogadishu soon,” Colonel Nur Mohamed, a Somali military officer, told Reuters by phone from the southwestern town of Hudur.

The U.S. military says it conducted two drone strikes against Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab fighters in southern Somalia, like reported by foxnews.com.

The results of the strikes were still being assessed, a statement from the U.S. Africa Command said.

The strikes took place near the Banadiir region of Somalia, an area that includes the capital, Mogadishu, the statement said.

“We continue to work in coordination with our Somali partners and allies to systematically dismantle al-Shabaab and help achieve stability and security throughout the region,” the statement said.

The strikes were carried out under new authorities that President Trump granted the Pentagon in March. The president authorized the military to conduct offensive operations against al-Qaeda’s third largest affiliate, which is seen as the most lethal terrorist group in Africa.

Somalia’s president says the drone strikes killed a high-level al-Shabaab leader, the Associated Press reported.

The U.S. military is now conducting airstrikes in Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen.

Moustapha Bachir was watching a World Cup qualifying match in a bar when Boko Haram rolled into Amchide, in Cameroon’s Far North region. By the time they left, the jihadists had killed 30 people and torched homes and businesses, like reported by irinnews.org.

Bachir, 22, didn’t recognise any of the gunmen – he was too busy escaping – and neither did he expect to. Boko Haram was a largely Nigerian insurgent group, committed to a hardline Islamist solution to Nigeria’s perceived ills.

Boko Haram had arrived in Amchide in a convoy of pick-ups, and fled back across the common border the same day when Cameroon’s Rapid Intervention Battalion showed up.

That was three years ago, at a time when Boko Haram was morphing into a regional problem, threatening Chad and Niger as well.

It found a foothold in Cameroon’s Far North. As Boko Haram escalated its attacks, Bachir began to hear of friends and classmates killed by the security forces while fighting with the militants.

So why would young Cameroonians choose to join a jihadist outfit shaped by Nigeria’s circumstances? Why did an insurgency known for its extreme violence still find willing recruits?

Money talks

The Far North is the poorest of Cameroon’s 10 regions. School attendance is chronically low and formal employment – especially for the youth – scarce.

These conditions mirror those of northeast Nigeria where Boko Haram emerged. And the Islamists employed a tried and tested recruitment strategy of financial inducement that had proved effective at home.

“Before Boko Haram started violent attacks in Cameroon, they came to our communities and promised wealth and status to youths who would follow them to Nigeria,” said Bachir. “Most of us who were secondary school students rejected the offer.”

But, he added, others out of school “selling illegal watered-down fuel from Nigeria, textiles from Maroua [the administrative capital], farming and cattle rearing, took the offer. They were offered motorcycles and placements in Islamic schools in Nigeria.”

It is the same youthful petty trader class, scraping a precarious living, that has also filled Boko Haram’s ranks in Nigeria.

But the impetus for signing up may not solely be economic. In Nigeria, the original cultish Boko Haram movement was seen by its followers as a pious and disciplined antidote to the corruption of the Nigerian state. And their hardline message resonated across the region, where governments were also seen as in the pockets of Western interests.

The border is highly permeable, with the same Kanuri ethnic group – that form the bulk of Boko Haram – straddling both sides. Communities know each other, easing the penetration and acceptance of the militant’s message.

The toll

Boko Haram’s first attack in Cameroon was in March 2014. Since then it has carried out at least 510, according to an International Crisis Group report in November 2016. It initially massed fighters for raids, but now increasingly relies on improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers.

“Young girls have carried out most suicide attacks. Between July 2015 and October 2016, they left at least 290 dead and more than 800 wounded,” the ICG report said.

Government media reports say the violence has killed a total of 2,000 people, displaced 200,000, and cost the country $18 million in lost revenue from interrupted trade along the northern border.

President Paul Biya, in distant Yaounde, has ruled Cameroon for 35 years. His time in office has been marked by allegations of corruption and human rights abuse.

Poor governance and neglect of the largely Muslim Far North adds to the lack of representation felt by some ethnic groups, including the Kanuri.

“These are groups of people who feel left out of local and national governance,” said an academic at the University of Maroua, who refused to be named. In that context, Boko Haram seemed for some a direct response to their marginalisation.

Adder Abel Gwoda, a lecturer at the same university and co-founder of the NGO African Positive Peace Initiative says the government missed the warning signs.

He had presented a study to the authorities showing that 600 young men had left the northern city of Mora for Nigeria in 2012, recruited by Boko Haram. It was ignored until the kidnapping of a French family in 2014 by Ansaru, an offshoot of Boko Haram.

“It was after the kidnap that an army general called me and suggested we begin a deradicalisation process,” Gwoda told IRIN.

His approach was to focus on social assistance channeled through his youth movement, Youth Dynamics for the Development and Emergence of Cameroon.

It donates food and farm inputs to displaced and vulnerable communities along the border, as well as organising health screenings with government health workers.

“We chose the humanitarian approach to deradicalisation because I thought if our dissuasive messages were hard, the villagers would not listen,” Gwoda explained. “Instead of talking about Boko Haram, we taught them that the future is in schooling.”

Getting organised

Scores of youth groups have mobilised in the Far North with similar development and social justice agendas. One of them is Local Youth Corner Cameroon.

“Agents of radicalisation craft messages around grievances, government failure and religion to get youths involved,” said the association’s founder, Achaleke Christian.

“We are sending out messages that violence is not the solution to these problems… We are also [urging] the government to play its role by eradicating the drivers of radicalisation.”

Christian says the surge in youth-led civil society groups proves that young people are not the problem. There are so many his organisation is building an index to track some of the most active.

Toumba Haman, 21, survived the Amchide attack. He had friends and neighbours who voluntarily joined Boko Haram: “They were easily convinced because they were uneducated and poor.”

Now Haman is trying to do something about it. With a group of university friends they have formed an association urging young people to stay in school rather than quitting to find odd jobs.

They argue that education can be a meal ticket, and help avoid the blandishments of Boko Haram.

Only 10 youths in his village finished secondary school, said Haman. “We want to go back and encourage our peers to go to school. I feel like I owe my community.”

Boko Haram, a group which has split into three factions under Shiekh Abubakar Shekau, Shiekh Mamman Nur and Khalifa Abu Musaf Albarnawi, with each leader controlling the Sambisa forest, has continued to prove more deadly in attacks and suicide missions in Borno State and across the northeast region of Nigeria.

DAILY POST takes the records of the activities of this dreaded sect in the month of July, which put the number of the dead at 158 in Borno State alone.

This occurred mostly from suicide missions and attacks within and outside Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

Dead toll from attacks within the northeast region is about 279.

The attack on oil workers, which left 69 dead at Borno Yesu along Magumeri, Gubio road in Maiduguri is the 16th number of attacks, excluding suicide bombing in Borno State. The attack is one of the most deadly in recent time. This has made the Boko Haram group, which claims affiliation with ISIS very deadly.

Although the military has reported killing of Boko Haram fighters in most of their encounter in July, 2017, most often there was no specific number to the effect.

The split or rather factions within the Boko Haram militants could only prove that this conflict will continue to be one of the most deadly conflict in the world today, even though the Nigerian military see the division as weakening the strength of the group.

However, media analysts, who have been speaking on the Boko Haram crisis opined that with the split in the Boko Haram is an indication that the war on terror may have just began.

According to Mr. Simon Dauda, and Mallam Abdullahi Mohammed, the faction created within the Boko Haram sect is something that should not be taken for granted, and therefore, called for concern.

“Before now, we were dealing with one man, Shekau. I think we should consider that our problem is not one as of today, but three with these faction under Mamman Nur and Albarnawi.

“Many people who are looking at the gradual return of peace within Maiduguri are too quick to conclude that peace has returned. I am not on that page with them as a reporter who has seen it all.

“My heart beat is even faster now than few years back because of the magnitude of the divide in the ranks of Boko Haram militants,” Malam Abdullahi observed.

He added that, “With the over 600,000 IDPs already enumerated for food sharing, the over 140 international non governmental organisations present in Maiduguri and the recent directives by the Acting President to Service Chiefs to return to Maiduguri is a pointer that claims of peace as it was being politicised is far from the reality on ground.”

Mr. Simon also observed that the activities of Boko Haram as it affects communities around Maiduguri, particularly now that they go to even force parents to donate their own daughters for suicide mission activities, calls for concern.

“I wonder what kind of peace we are talking about with such happenings around us. My personal opinion is that our government should not relax with such information flying.

“It is even worrisome that, Boko Haram militants riding on motor cycle can carry suicide bombers and drop them two kilometres from the city to go and detonate IEDs without our security agencies arresting those that are bringing those girls to kill,” he said.

Tourists were left scared as a luxury cruise ship was reportedly forced to turn off lights and ban partying amid fears of a Somali pirate attack, like reported by aol.co.uk .

Many holidaymakers had paid tens of thousands of pounds to go on the Sea Princess’s 104-day world cruise, which started in Sydney, Australia.

But when a dusk-till-dawn “ban” on deck “fun” was put in place for more than a week and the vessel became a “ghost ship”, nerves got the better of some.

Rumours of a potential terrorist plot began to spread as curtains and shutters were apparently closed and lights were dimmed or switched off each night.

Passengers are said to have speculated as to the reason behind the darkness and quietness – before the captain addressed the ship and shed some light on it.

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Captain Gennaro Arma “apologised for alarming passengers,” said Carolyne Jasinski, who was on the cruise liner as a guest speaker.

“However, the threat, he said, was real and the ship must be prepared for a pirate attack,” she added, writing for news.com.au .

The “ban”, which reportedly saw the end of deck parties, outdoor films and late-night outdoor swimming, remained in place for 10 days.

It is said to have been implemented as the massive vessel travelled across the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal.

In these areas, “the risk of piracy is higher”, Carolyne wrote.

“Now I knew why they had been playing a documentary on our cabin TVs about piracy on the high seas,” she added. “They were getting us ready for what was to come; gently reminding us that piracy is still a problem.”

The media consultant said the ban on outdoor partying and entertainment no longer seemed like such an issue, with few complaints from passengers.

Nearly 2,000 people were on the world cruise, ending in Dubai, at the time.

As well as the dusk-till-dawn restrictions, the captain also reportedly told the holidaymakers they would have to take part in a so-called “pirate drill”.

This compulsory drill apparently saw them sent back to their cabins so they could be counted by staff on the Sea Princess, operated by Princess Cruises.

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Carolyne wrote that tourists were advised to sit on the floor and hold on to hand rails – in case the boat had to suddenly swerve away from pirate vessels.

She also said that that captain said they could outrun such boats – but that officers were on watch at all times to look out for pirates off the coast of Somalia.

The dates of the world cruise are unclear. MailOnline reports that some holidaymakers had paid more than $50,000 (around £38,500) for the trip.

A Princess Cruises spokeswoman told Mirror Online: “We do not discuss specific security procedures or equipment on our vessels.

“In addition to our normal ongoing security training, additional piracy specific training is conducted prior to any of our vessels entering areas of concern.

“Any measures aboard Sea Princess were simply taken out of an abundance caution and not in response to a specific threat.”

More than 100 children fleeing areas controlled by al-Shabab militants in central Somalia have arrived in the coastal town of Adale, seeking the government’s protection, officials said according to voanews.com.

Adale is a key trading town in the Middle Shabelle region, 220 kilometers northeast of Mogadishu.

In an interview with VOA Somali, the town’s district commissioner, Muse Mohamed Ahmed, said the fleeing children are resisting new al-Shabab recruitment campaigns.

“Al-Shabab has a large number of old fighters, so they want to recruit children to bolster its ranks. They have started abducting children from local schools, and those who do not want to join them have decided to flee to the government-controlled areas,” Ahmed said.

He estimated that more than 500 children have fled villages and towns in central Somalia, mainly in the Galgudud, Hirran and Middle Shabelle areas.

“We do not have the exact number, but our estimation is that more than 500 children, mainly between the ages of 10 to 15, have arrived in the town in the last couple of months,” Ahmed said.

“Most of them pass to other government-controlled areas to join relatives, but 100 of them who did not know where to go stay with us here.”

He said each of the families in the town has offered to have two or three children stay with them until Somali government and regional authorities decide their fate.

Other sources in the town have confirmed the presence of the youngsters.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who made an emergency visit to Somalia in March, said more than half of the fighters in the militant group may be children.

Somali government officials said children as young as nine are being used in combat.

“We have seen children as young as nine being caught or killed in several fronts fighting along the militants,” said Col. Omar Ahmed with the Somali National Army, or SNA.

Al-Shabab continues waging an insurgency against the U.S.-backed federal government in Somalia and the African Union troops deployed there 10 years ago. Al-Shabab, which is allied with al-Qaida, has been fighting since 2006 to overthrow the Somali government and turn the country into a strict Islamic state

The U.S. military is confirming it killed a high-level commander of the al-Shabab extremist group with an airstrike in Somalia over the weekend, like reported by ap.org .

A statement Friday says the strike on July 30 killed Ali Mohamed Hussein, also known as Ali Jabal.

The statement says he was “was responsible for leading al-Shabab forces operating in the Mogadishu and Banadiir regions in planning and executing attacks against the capital of Mogadishu.”

The U.S. Africa Command statement says the airstrike occurred near Tortoroow, an al-Shabab stronghold in Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia.

President Donald Trump earlier this year approved expanded military operations against al-Shabab, including more aggressive airstrikes and considering parts of southern Somalia areas of active hostilities.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab is the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa.