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Niamey (AFP) - Boko Haram militants attacked troops from Niger on an island base in Lake Chad, the government said on Saturday, in a raid believed to have taken a heavy toll on the army.
"At dawn on April 25, fighters from the terrorist group Boko Haram riding motorised canoes attacked the island of Karamga, a position northwest of of the town of Bosso held by our defence and security forces," the ministry of defence said.
"Operations are ongoing with the support of partners to counter the ambitions of this terrorist group," the ministry added in a statement broadcast on television.
The ministry did not indicate if there were any casualties as a result of the raid.
An official from Diffa, the capital of the southeast, however warned the death toll was "very heavy in the ranks of the Nigerien army," without providing further details.
State television reported that Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou had called a meeting of the national security council after the Islamists' attack.
Niger, along with Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria, has recently launched a joint offensive to end Boko Haram's six-year insurgency, which has claimed 13,000 lives and caused about 1.5 million people to flee their homes.
Source:
Yahoo News
Russian hackers who gained access to the White House computer system last year were able to read President Obama's unclassified emails, the New York Times has reported.
It said the breach was far more intrusive than previously admitted.
Officials have conceded that sensitive information was in the unclassified system the hackers accessed.
The discovery of the hacking in October led to a partial shutdown of the White House email system.
Highly secure
"The hackers, who also got deeply into the State Department's unclassified system, do not appear to have penetrated closely guarded servers that control the message traffic from Mr Obama's BlackBerry, which he or an aide carries constantly," the New York Times said.
The hackers are not believed to have penetrated closely guarded servers that control the message traffic from Mr Obama's BlackBerry
"But they obtained access to the email archives of people inside the White House, and perhaps some outside, with whom Mr Obama regularly communicated. From those accounts, they reached emails that the president had sent and received."
The paper quoted White House officials as saying that no classified networks were compromised, and that the hackers accessed no classified information.
Many senior officials have two computers in their offices, one which works on a highly secure classified network and another for unclassified communications, the paper said.
But it said that officials have conceded that the unclassified system often contains information that is considered highly sensitive, including schedules, email exchanges with ambassadors and diplomats, debate about policy and forthcoming personnel deployments and legislation.
Source:
BBC
An explosion has occurred at a military facility in Plateau State with yet unknown number of casualties, witnesses and a security source said.
The bomb hit the Nigerian Army’s 3rd Armoured Division barracks at Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State, at about 9:45 a.m. on Saturday.
The casualty rate was unclear as the police could not be immediately reached.
Plateau State has witnessed a series of deadly bomb attacks in recent months. A blast at a bus station in Jos, Plateau, late February killed 13 people and injured 14 others.
More Details coming.
Source:
Premium Times
BAUCHI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian soldiers retreated from Islamist group Boko Haram's last known stronghold in the country's northeast on Thursday, concerned the area was booby-trapped after three pro-government vigilantes were killed by a landmine.
A vigilante and a security source both confirmed the pullback from the Sambisa forest, a day after an offensive aimed at rooting out the insurgents.
"The soldiers have retreated to Bama because of mines. They had been on the road but that made them vulnerable, so they moved to the bush but there are mines planted there (too)," one soldier, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.
Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, has said troops of the Nigerian Army have killed a senior Commander of Boko Haram in an encounter with the terrorists on Tuesday morning at the Alagarno Forest.
Olukolade gave the identity of the ‘notorious terrorists commander’ as Abu Mojahid, in a statement on Wednesday.
The Defence spokesman explained that the soldiers had an encounter with the insurgents when they staged a daring attack on troops, who were on patrol in the area.
According to him, the troops killed a number of the terrorists while some rocket propelled grenades and vehicles with mounted anti-aircraft guns were either destroyed or captured in the encounter.
He added that the troops were clearing Improvised Explosive Devices planted by the retreating terrorists to obstruct the troops’ advance in the area.
Olukolade said the military operation against the terrorists were ongoing in some forests of the mission area.
He said, “A notorious top terrorists commander, Abu Mojahid, was among the terrorists that died in their encounter with troops in the outskirt of Alagarno on Tuesday morning. The terrorists had staged a daring attack on troops, who were on patrol of the area.
“Meanwhile, the military operations are continuing in the form of offensive action on identified terrorists in some forest locations. Aggressive patrols, mopping up as well as cordon and search are also continuing in the other locations in search of weapons and terrorists.
“Improvised Explosive Devices planted by the terrorists to deter the comprehensive offensive by the advancing troops are also being carefully cleared as troops continue to pursue fleeing ones.
Chadian Army spokesman, Col. Azem Agouna, said on Wednesday that they had repatriated 43 children, who had been kidnapped by Boko Haram and forced to become child soldiers.
He said in N’djamena that the children, who were aged 12 and older and were Chadian nationals, were found in the Nigerian town of Damasak, in Borno State.
News Agency of Nigeria recalls that Damasak was under Boko Haram control until Chadian and Nigerian forces recaptured the town in early March.
Agouna said the children managed to escape during the clashes between the insurgents and soldiers, while the local families helped them to hide from the militias.
He explained that when it was certain that Boko Haram had been defeated and would not return to the town, the children came out of their hiding places and asked Chadian security forces for help.
The spokesman said the army would look into how and when Boko Haram abducted the children from Chad.
(NAN)
