LAGOS JULY 31ST (NEWSRANGERS)-Widespread anger at chronic insecurity in the West African countries of Mali and Burkina Faso paved the way for military men to kick out failing governments over the past two years. “There’s no more room for mistakes,” said Mali’s coup leader as he seized power in August 2020. “We have more than…
LAGOS MAY 17TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Around 40 people, many of them civilian volunteers with the army, have been killed in suspected jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso, local sources and security officials said on Monday. In the northern region of Sahel, around 25 people were killed in two assaults on Saturday, including 13 members of the VDP volunteers,…
LAGOS DECEMBER 4TH (NEWSRANGERS)-At least 31 people have been killed in central Mali after militants attacked a bus carrying civilians to a market, local officials have said. Unidentified gunmen opened fire and killed the driver, before setting the bus on fire, according to authorities. Most of the victims were women who were on their way…
LAGOS AUGUST 18TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Thirty-seven civilians were killed in a region of western Niger that has been battered by jihadist incursions from neighbouring Mali, local sources said Tuesday. “Armed men who arrived on motorbikes” attacked the village of Darey-Daye in the Tillaberi region on Monday afternoon as people were working in the fields, a local official…
LAGOS MAY 20TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Nigeria’s Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has been seriously wounded after trying to kill himself to avoid capture during clashes with rival Islamic State-allied jihadists in the north of the country, two intelligence sources said on Thursday. Shekau’s Boko Haram faction and fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) had…
LAGOS MAY 1ST (NEWSRANGERS)-With his country ensnared in mounting jihadist violence, bandit attacks and kidnappings, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is under fire from allies and enemies alike for appearing incapable of tackling the security crisis. April saw an almost daily toll of bloody assaults and abductions in Africa’s most populous nation. In the past week…
LAGOS APRIL 29TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Two Spanish journalists, an Irish conservationist and a Burkinabè soldier have reportedly been killed after suspected jihadists attacked their convoy in eastern Burkina Faso. The Irishman was named as Rory Young, the co-founder and president of Chengeta Wildlife, an anti-poaching organisation, according to RTÉ, the Irish state broadcaster. Mr Young was born…
LAGOS MARCH 19TH (NEWSRANGERS)-About 100 suspected Islamic extremists on motorcycles ambushed the Malian military convoy in the country’s volatile north, killing at least 33 people in the deadliest attack of its kind since the president was overthrown in a coup last year, officials said Wednesday. More than a dozen others were wounded in Tuesday’s attack…