Bamako, Mali | AFP | Fourteen soldiers were killed and 18 wounded on Saturday in an attack on their camp in Mali’s restive north, the army said, while military sources told AFP jihadists were responsible. Mali’s deteriorating security situation is of growing concern as Al-Qaeda-linked groups mount increasingly deadly attacks …
Read More »Snake blood, flaming bricks: Mattis gets bizarre Indonesian send off
Jakarta, Indonesia | AFP | A soldier tore apart a snake with his teeth and his comrades headbutted flaming stacks of bricks as Indonesia’s special forces treated visiting US defence secretary Jim Mattis to an unusual display on Tuesday. Mattis — whose own nickname is “Mad Dog” — seemed impressed by …
Read More »Seven Niger troops killed in Boko Haram attack
Niamey, Niger | AFP | At least seven Niger soldiers were killed and more than a dozen others wounded this week in an attack by suspected Boko Haram militants in the country’s southeast, the government said on Friday. “The provisional toll for the cowardly terror attack on Wednesday night in Toummour …
Read More »MUSEVENI: Stability is the best insurance for Uganda
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has said that a country’s human resource is greater than any natural resource and must be nurtured and protected. He said this coupled with the unity and stability of our nation, is the best insurance for its people. The President was …
Read More »India to buy guns worth $553 mn for border troops
New Delhi, India | AFP | India will buy more than 160,000 guns worth $553 million for troops on its disputed, high-altitude borders, the defence ministry said Tuesday. The defence acquisition council cleared the purchase of 72,400 assault rifles and 93,895 carbines for 35 billion rupees ($553 million) in a …
Read More »Former DR Congo army chief accused of coup bid held in Gabon
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Democratic Republic of Congo’s former military chief, who has been accused by Kinshasa of an attempted coup against President Joseph Kabila in 2011, has been arrested in Gabon, sources told AFP. “General Faustin Munene has been arrested since Wednesday, January 10… in Gabon,” said a …
Read More »Zimbabwe army warned Mugabe faced being ‘lynched’: aide
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | An aide to former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has revealed how generals warned him to step aside as protests against him grew, or face being “lynched” like Libya’s Moamer Kadhafi. Massive street protests against 93-year-old Mugabe erupted after the military briefly took power in November …
Read More »Three French soldiers wounded in Mali attack
Paris, France | AFP | Three French soldiers deployed in a counter-terrorism force in Mali’s restive northeast were injured, one seriously, in a suicide bomb attack, France’s army said Friday. The convoy was attacked while travelling between the Menaka and Indelimane regions on Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the launch …
Read More »US forces kill 13 Shabaab militants in air strike
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The United States carried out an air strike on Christmas Eve against the Shabaab Islamist group that left 13 dead, according to a statement released Wednesday. “In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, US forces conducted an airstrike against al-Shabaab militants on the morning …
Read More »UPDF: 100 ADF rebels killed in DR Congo strikes
Kampala, Uganda | AFP | Uganda’s army on Wednesday claimed that its operations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo killed over 100 members of a Ugandan Muslim rebel group accused of murdering UN peacekeepers. “Over 100 terrorists were killed with several others wounded and their logistic stores destroyed,” said general …
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