Just In: Boko Haram kidnaps 15 girls
News & Trends •
kidnapping of schoolgirls has been a boko haram horror mark since its fighters in 2014 kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in chibok borno state in nigeria1 suspected boko haram gunmen kidnapped 15 girls overnight in a village near toumour southeastern niger the local mayor said on saturday1 on thursday suspected boko haram fighters killed eight people working at french drilling company foracos water well site in toumour1 boko haram has been waging an insurrection since 2009 aimed at establishing an islamic state in northeast nigeria. it has launched repeated attacks into neighbouring niger chad and cameroon1 the violence has killed thousands of civilians and forced millions to flee their homes in the large lake chad basin region1 boukar mani orthe the mayor of the town in nigers diffa region near the border with nigeria said about 50 unidentified armed men seized the girls in a village about nine kilometres from the town centre1 it also staged this year another major kidnap of schoolgirls in dapchi yobe state1 in mali french forces said they put out of action some 30 islamist militants possibly including veteran malian jihadist leader amadou koufa during a raid in the central mali region of mopti1 the french army which has about 4500 troops in west africa battling islamist militants did not specify whether the jihadists had all been killed or taken prisoner. the operation took place with air support on thursday night it said1 at this stage of the evaluation of the operation it appears that about 30 terrorists were put out of action the army said in its statement on friday adding that koufa and other prominent militants were probably among them1 koufa a radical preacher inspired the massina liberation front mlf a group blamed for a wave of attacks that has shifted malis six-year-old islamist insurgency from the remote desert north ever closer to its populous south1