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Tag: Attack

  • Iran launches second round of missiles attack against US

    Iran launches second round of missiles attack against US

    Iran launched on Wednesday a “second round” of attacks against bases holding U.S. troops in Iraq, the Tehran-based Tasnim news agency said on Wednesday.

    The second round of attacks started an hour after the first phase took place, the agency reported.

    In a statement, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps(IRGC) said the second missile attack targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Earlier reports had said Erbil was targeted by the first wave of missiles sent to Iraq.

    The Arabic-language Al-Mayadeen TV network reported early on Wednesday that a US military base close to Erbil’s airport came under attack.

    Fars News agency said all flights have been cancelled at Erbil airport.

    Few hours earlier, the IRGC launched what it called heavy ballistic missile attacks on US Ein Al-Asad airbase in Southwestern Iraq near the border with Syria in retaliation for the assassination of IRGC Qods Force Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

    Ein Al-Asad is an airbase with a 4km runway at 188m altitude from sea levels, which is the main and the largest US airbase in Iraq.

    The IRGC issued a statement saying it has fired tens of ground-to-ground missiles at “the airbase occupied by the terrorist and aggressive army of the United States known as Ein Al-Assad” in reprisal for the martyrdom of IRGC Qods Force Commaner Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

    The IRGC warned the US to avoid retaliating the Wednesday attack or else “it will face a more painful and crushing response”.

    The IRGC Statement also warned “all the US allied states where the terrorist army has a base, any territory that becomes the origin of any hostile and aggressive action against the Islamic Republic of Iran in any way will be targeted”.

    “We believe that the Zionist regime by no means stands aside from the criminal US regime in these crimes.”

  • Buhari condemns attack on Kogi community

    Buhari condemns attack on Kogi community

    President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the murder of 19 people by unidentified gunmen in Tawari community of Kogi Local Government Area, Kogi State.

    “There is no excuse or justification for killing innocent people by anybody or group, and for whatever motive,’’Buhari said in a statement by Malam Garba Shehu.

    “The killings and revenge killings will only aggravate the cycle of violence, creating neither safety nor security for any side.

    “People should avoid taking the law into their own hands because doing so could make a bad situation worse and undermine the government’s efforts to tackle security challenges.

    “I am gravely worried about frequency and temptation of using violence to settle disputes instead of following lawful and amicable means to avoid needless destruction of lives and property,’’ the President added.

    The President’s response came few hours after he reassured Nigerians about the planned withdrawal of the military from areas where peace had been restored.

    He said it will not be done in a manner that will expose communities to more risks of attacks.

    The president said the withdrawal will be gradual and carefully planned, not abrupt or arbitrary to jeopardise the success already recorded by the military.

    Reacting to concerns and appeals from governors and community leaders over the proposed withdrawal, President Buhari said the “administration will not abandon citizens in need of protection.”

    He urged Nigerians, especially public affairs analysts, to carefully study the statement following a security council meeting with service chiefs that the withdrawal of troops will be done after an “assessment” to determine areas where peace had returned to enable civil authorities assume full control.

    President Buhari said where it is determined that the withdrawal will not in any way jeopardize peace already achieved, the military pull out will be in a careful and gradual way.

    “You don’t need to worry. We will not expose our people and their communities to harm or danger,” the President assured.

    “The withdrawal is to allow the military focus on its primary duty of defending the nation against external aggression. It is the duty of the police to handle internal security since Nigeria is not at war.

    “The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps will support the police to provide internal security. When it is time to withdraw, nothing will be rushed,’’ he added.

  • Yahaya Bello condemns attack on Kogi community, orders investigation

    Yahaya Bello condemns attack on Kogi community, orders investigation

    The Governor of Kogi, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has directed the security agencies in the state to fish out perpetrators of Tawari attack for justice.

    In a statement by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Onogwu Muhammed, in Lokoja on Friday, the governor said the security agencies should swing into action and ensure that those who carried out the dastardly act face the law.

    The governor, who condemned the attack and warned that anyone nursing the ambition of causing crisis in the state would have himself or herself to blamed assured that his administration would do everything possible to protect life and property of the people of the state.

    He, therefore, urged the people to be calm and law-abiding, assuring them that his administration was determined to flush out bandits and criminals out of the state.

    Meanwhile, the Police Command has disclosed that about 28 houses and vehicles were razed by the attackers in Tawari community located in Kogi Local Government Area of the state among other destruction.

    The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for the command, Dsp Williams Anya, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview.

    Anya, who also disclosed that some lives were lost during the attack, said the Commissioner of Police, Mr Ede Ayuba Ekpeji had visited the community for on the spot assessment.

    Tawari community which is about 30 minutes drive from Gegu town on Lokoja-Abuja road, Kogi Local Government Area, came under a heavy attack by unknown gunmen on Thursday night.

    He also said that the Commissioner of Police had deployed Special Police Force and Police Tactical Squad, led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, to immediately unravel those behind the heinous act with a view to bringing them to book.

  • NRC clears air on alleged attack on Abuja-Kaduna train

    NRC clears air on alleged attack on Abuja-Kaduna train

    The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Engr Fidet Okhiria has denied any attack on Thursday morning, on the Abuja-Kaduna train by armed men suspected to be kidnappers.

    Recall that there has been reports of armed men suspected to be kidnappers attacking the Abuja bound train with guns and other projectiles on Thursday (today) morning.

    The train, which left the Rigassa train station in Kaduna at around 10 am was reportedly attacked a few kilometers to Katari, about 70 kilometres to Abuja.

    However, the DG in a short message debunking the attacksaid: “This news was not correct.”

    Okhiria said he had been inundated with calls since the news went viral on the social media. Quoting Police sources, Okhiria said what happened was that a stone was thrown at the train by some boys, which according to him only affected the window glass of coach SP4.

    He further stated that the situation was promptly arrested by police escorts on the train who restored calm before the train continued its journey and passengers disembarked peacefully at the Idu Station in Abuja without any other incident.

    Ohiria assures train passengers of their safety even as he said investigation still continues into the cause of the Katari incident with a view to dousing the fears of the commuting public who have come to see the train as very good, reliable and safer alternative for commuting between Abuja and Kaduna as the Police continues their onslaught to dislodge the road of kidnappers who have turned the Abuja-Kaduna road into a nightmare for travelers.

    “We are assuring train passengers of their safety. The trains remain the safest and cheapest alternative to the road mode,” Okhiria further stated.

  • JTF, Navy visit Jonathan in Otuoke to ascertain level of damage

    JTF, Navy visit Jonathan in Otuoke to ascertain level of damage

    The Joint Task Force (JFT), code named Operation Delta Safe, and the Nigerian Navy on Monday visited former President Goodluck Jonathan’s residence in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

    The visit was to ascertain the level of damage following attack on the former president’s residence by unknown gunmen on Christmas eve.

    They said the visit was also to find necessary solution to prevent reoccurrence of such attacks.

    In attendance were the JTF Commander, Rear Admiral Akinjide Akinrinade, the Flag Officer Commanding Central Naval Command, Rear Admiral Saidu Garba, the Commander Nigerian Navy Ship Soroh, Commodore Felix Esekhile amongst others.

    In his remarks, Jonathan urged them to be thorough in their investigations.

    “Be thorough as you seek to bring the perpetrators to book and ensure that such mindless attack do not happen again in any part of the country,” Jonathan said.

  • 80 terrorists, 31 women killed in attack on military base

    80 terrorists, 31 women killed in attack on military base

    A militant attack in northern Burkina Faso on Tuesday killed 35 civilians, almost all of them women. Seven soldiers and 80 jihadists were also killed, in the double attack on a military base and Arbinda town in Soum province. .

    It was one of the deadliest assaults in nearly five years of jihadist violence in the country.

    Burkina Faso, bordering Mali and Niger, has seen regular jihadist attacks which have left hundreds dead since the start of 2015 when militant violence began to spread across the Sahel region.

    “A large group of terrorists simultaneously attacked the military base and the civilian population in Arbinda,” the army chief of staff said in a statement.

    “This barbaric attack resulted in the deaths of 35 civilian victims, most of them women,” President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said on Twitter, praising the “bravery and commitment” of the defence and security forces.

    Communications minister and government spokesman Remis Dandjinou later said 31 of the civilian victims were women.

    The president has declared 48-hours of national mourning.

    The morning raid was carried out by dozens of jihadists on motorbikes and lasted several hours before armed forces backed by the air force drove the militants back, the army said.

    No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but jihadist violence in Burkina Faso has been blamed on militants linked to both Al Qaeda and Islamic State groups.

    Leaders of the G5 Sahel nations held summit talks in Niger earlier this month, calling for closer cooperation and international support in the battle against the Islamist threat.

    Militant violence has spread across the vast Sahel region, especially in Burkina Faso and Niger, having started when armed Islamists revolted in northern Mali in 2012.

    The Sahel region of Africa lies to the south of the Sahara Desert and stretches across the breadth of the African continent.

    The G5 group is made up of Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, whose impoverished armies have the support of French forces as well as the UN in Mali.

    In Burkina Faso, more than 700 people have been killed and around 560,000 internally displaced, according to the United Nations.

    Attacks have targeted mostly the north and east of the country, though the capital Ouagadougou has been hit three times.

    Prior to Tuesday’s attack, Burkina security forces said they had killed around a hundred jihadists in several operations since November.

    An ambush on a convoy transporting employees of a Canadian mining company in November killed 37 people.

    Attacks have intensified this year as the under-equipped, poorly trained Burkina Faso army struggles to contain the Islamist militancy.

  • IPOB claims responsibility for attack on Amaechi in Spain

    …vows to attack more ‘corrupt’ politicians in diaspora

    The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) says its members were responsible for the attack on Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

    Confirming the incident via his Twitter handle, Amaechi had said he was attacked by “misguided Nigerians” while attending an event on climate change in Madrid, Spain on Friday. The minister also confirmed that he was rescued unhurt by the Spanish police.

    However, IPOB said the attack was the order of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

    According to IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, the group has no personal issue against Amaechi, adding that the attack was carried out as part of a plot targetted at particular politicians.

    He said it was the same order that led to the attack on former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, in Nuremberg, Germany, in August.

    The spokesman also said similar fate awaits “all corrupt politicians who brought hardship to the people.”

    “It is not a personal problem against him. It is a standing order against all of them and we are looking for all of them,” he told TheCable.

    “It is based on the standing order given by our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to IPOB, Spain, to beat the minister of transport, Chibuike Amaechi.

    “IPOB is warming all those corrupt politicians who brought hardship to the people that we are waiting for them anywhere we meet. We will continue,” he added.

    “We are telling the whole world why they must be dealt with because they are not sincere to the people to the suffering citizens.”

  • JUST IN: How I survived attacks by ‘misguided’ Nigerians in Spain – Amaechi

    Some Nigerians on Friday attacked the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, at the climate change summit holding in Madrid, Spain.

    The minister who stated this in a tweet via his handle @ChibuikeAmaechi however said the Spanish Polish repelled the attackers before they could do harm.

    “Some minutes ago, I was attacked by a few misguided Nigerians while on national assignment at a climate change event in Madrid, Spain. They were quickly repelled by the Spanish police before they could do any harm. I am fine. I was not hurt. Thanks for your support & prayers,” he tweeted.

    It is not immediately clear if the attackers are members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement that have moved to attack any person with Igbo roots and occupying high profile positions in the government.

    More details later…

  • Police speak on alleged attacks on Oshiomhole’s residence

    Police speak on alleged attacks on Oshiomhole’s residence

    The Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. DanMallam Muhammed, has denied reports of attack on the residence of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

    The Chief Press Secretary to the former Governor, Simon Ebegbulem, had raised the alarm that unknown hoodlums attacked the Benin residence of Oshiomhole located in the Okoroutun area of GRA Saturday evening.

    Ebegbulem alleged that the attackers were sent by the State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, in his desperation to secure a second term as Governor.

    He, however, said that the attackers were repelled by APC youths loyal to Oshiomhole who mobilised to his residence.

    But the State Commissioner of Police, DanMallam Mohammed​, in his reaction, said there was no attack on Oshiomhole’s​ residence.

    Mohammed, who spoke in a telephone interview, said: “the one that happened was on [Friday], and there was no attack on Oshiomhole’s residence.

    “He (Oshiomhole) visited the Oba of Benin and we escorted him to the airport and he thanked us for the security of the State.

    “You know, when his Excellency (Obaseki) visited him (Oshiomhole) during Sallah, he said people are capitaling on the issues to make money and create problems​ when there are none​. Nobody attacked Oshiomhole’s​ house, we should have seen​ physical evidence,” he said.

    On his part, the Special Adviser to Governor Obaseki​ on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, described the allegation against Obaseki as false.

    Osagie said he was not “aware of any such attack” and there was no information to them “that Oshiomhole was even in town.”

    Meanhwile, the Chief of Staff to Governor Obaseki, Mr. Taiwo Akerele, has alleged that he was attacked by a loyalist of Adams Oshiomhole, chieftain of the APC in Benin, Tony Adun (otherwise known as Tony Kabaka).

    Akerele also alleged that unknown persons boggled into his country home in Igarra, Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of the State.

    He said the hoodlums entered his room through the ceiling and that their mission still remained known to him.

    He told journalists in Benin that Adun attacked him in Protrea Hotel on Friday while meeting with some foreign investors.

    He said he arrived at the hotel at about 7pm for a meeting with some foreign investors and that while the meeting was on, Adun came and first attacked him verbally and was matching towards him, but was restrained by people around.

    “I just came from Igarra where I met that unknown persons entered my room through the ceiling. I have reported to the police in Igarra.

    “When I came to Benin, I went straight to Protrea [Hotel] where I had a meeting with some foreign investors and I experienced the attack,” Akerele said.

    But when contacted, Adun denied the allegation. He said they “went to Protrea to see how Oshiomhole was faring after the attack on his house.”

     

  • Attack: Oil Prices Rebound as Saudi Recovery Continues

    Attack: Oil Prices Rebound as Saudi Recovery Continues

    Oil prices were at first trading lower on Monday afternoon as reports stated that Saudi Arabia already had gotten about 75 percent of its output up and running since the attacks on its Aramco fields two weeks ago.

    However, as at Tuesday night, the Brent Crude was trading higher at $63.42 per barrel after gaining 22 cents or 0.35 percent, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also recorded gains of 38 cents equivalent to 0.65 percent to trade at $58.47 per barrel.

    Saudi’s oil production was hinted at more than 1.3 million barrels per day in Khurais, while current production from Abqaiq is at about 3 million barrels per day.

    Things also took a new turn on Monday as leaders from United Kingdom, France and Germany have said in a joint statement at the 74th General Assembly of the United Nations that Iran was responsible for the attacks on Saudi Aramco fields earlier this month.

    They were talks by French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday during the annual United Nations gathering of world leaders to coordinate their strategy on Iran.

    “It is clear for us that Iran bears responsibility for this attack. There is no other plausible explanation,” the three leaders said in the joint statement released by the French government

    There are clear indications on what this might mean for oil prices but expectations are that oil prices will continue to rise.