Latest news with #jihadistinsurgency
News24
4 days ago
- General
- News24
Nigeria detains troops, police for alleged sale of weapons to armed groups
The Nigerian military has detained more than 30 soldiers and police officers for allegedly stealing weapons from its stockpiles and selling them to armed groups, including jihadists in the country. The country is battling a more than 15-year jihadist insurgency in the northeast, as well as a farmer-herder conflict in the north-central region, violent secessionist agitation in the southeast and rampant kidnap-for-ransom in the northwest. A spokesperson, Ademola Owolana, said the army launched an operation in August 2024 as a 'response to incessant cases of arms and ammunition theft'. 'So far, a total of 18 soldiers, 15 mobile policemen and eight civilians, including a traditional ruler, have been arrested,' Owolana said at a Wednesday briefing whose recording was accessed by AFP on Friday. He added: A few soldiers motivated by greed had been involved in ammunition racketeering, deliberately diverting arms from military stockpiles and supplies chains to terrorists. The country has seen a resurgence in deadly jihadist attacks in the northeast in recent weeks, with Boko Haram and the IS-affiliated Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) staging raids targeting military bases in particular. Raids on military bases have provided jihadists in the Sahel countries with at least 20% of their weapons, according to the UK-based Conflict Armament Research, which has studied jihadist weapons sources for a decade.
Reuters
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Attacks on Burkina army base, villages kill dozens, sources say
May 12 (Reuters) - An attack on a military base in northern Burkina Faso killed multiple soldiers, while a separate assault in the south left dozens of civilians dead, sources told Reuters on Monday, underscoring spiralling insecurity in the junta-led country. The army base in Djibo came under attack on Sunday morning, and a police station and market were also targeted, two security sources said. Soldiers, pro-government militiamen and civilians were among the dead, though a comprehensive toll was not available as of Monday, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the government. "Many of our men have fallen, soldiers as well as (militia) fighters. Arms have also been taken. On the population side too, there were many losses in human life," one of the sources said. The Djibo base has come under attack multiple times, including in October 2022, when 10 soldiers were killed and 50 wounded, according to an army statement at the time. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack. The area is near where Al Qaeda affiliate JNIM operates. Burkina Faso is ruled by Ibrahim Traore who seized power in a coup in 2022, promising to turn the tide against a jihadist insurgency that has spread across the region since it first took root in Mali 13 years ago. Militant attacks persist in much of the country. In the southern province of Koulpelogo, near the border with Togo, three villages - Bousgou, Salemboare and Yonde - came under attack over several days starting on Thursday evening of last week, killing at least 58 civilians, according to Segda Bila, a member of the committee tasked with burying the dead. Burkina Faso's military government has faced criticism by rights groups over measures it has taken in the name of national security. On Monday, Human Rights Watch, opens new tab said the army had "participated in the massacre of more than 130, possibly many more, ethnic Fulani civilians" carried out by pro-government militia fighters in the western Boucle du Mouhoun region in March. A government spokesman in March dismissed images circulating online purporting to depict those killings as a "disinformation campaign" of "false information aimed at undermining social cohesion." The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
