Briton and Canadian-Somali journalist among dead in suicide bombing and shooting in Kismayo claimed by al-Shabaab
Special forces in Somalia have ended an all-night siege at a hotel raided by armed Islamic militants, officials have said.
The death toll from the attack in the southern port city of Kismayo, which began on Friday evening, has risen to 26 people, including a prominent Canadian-Somali journalist and several foreigners.
Continue reading...Amadou Koufa appears in video three months after French armed forces minister declared him ‘neutralised’
A senior jihadist leader in Mali whom France said it had killed last November survived the attack and appears in a new propaganda video mocking French and Malian forces.
The French armed forces minister, Florence Parly, told parliament a few days after the 22 November raid that Amadou Koufa, a radical preacher and senior leader of a militant group linked to al-Qaida, was one of 35 fighters who had been “neutralised”.
Continue reading...Children among victims in area hit by ethnic violence in which hundreds died last year
Armed men killed 37 Fulani civilians on Tuesday in central Mali, where ethnic violence cost hundreds of lives last year, the government said.
Violence between Fulani and rival communities has compounded an already dire security situation in Mali’s semi-arid and desert regions, which are used as a base by jihadist groups with ties to al-Qaida and Islamic State.
Continue reading...