TheNewsGuru

Tag: Terrorists

  • Islamist militants bomb Catholic cathedral, 27 dead

    Islamist militants bomb Catholic cathedral, 27 dead

    Between 18 and 27 people have been reported killed after terrorists bombed a Catholic church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, the military said Sunday.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) learnt this is happening days after voters backed the creation of a new Muslim autonomous region.

    The first blast occurred inside the Catholic church on war-torn Jolo on Sunday morning as mass was being celebrated, and was followed by a second explosion outside as troops responded, the regional military spokesman said.

    Most victims were churchgoers along with soldiers. The door, pews and glass windows of Mount Carmel Cathedral were blown off, military photos showed, with bodies strewn across the ground.

    President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman condemned the incident as an “act of terrorism and murder”.

    “We will pursue to the ends of the earth the ruthless perpetrators behind this dastardly crime until every killer is brought to justice and put behind bars. The law will give them no mercy,” Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

    Five soldiers, a member of the coast guard and 12 civilians were killed while 83 others were wounded, said regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gerry Besana.

    However the regional police chief Graciano Mijares put the death toll at 27, with 77 people wounded.

    The second bomb was left in the utility box of a motorcycle in the parking area outside the church, a military report said.

    The army said it airlifted some of the wounded to the nearby city of Zamboanga for medical treatment.

    Authorities said the notorious Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group could be behind the blasts.

    Jolo is a base of the Abu Sayyaf, which is blamed for deadly bombings, including an attack on a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 that claimed 116 lives in the country’s deadliest terror assault.

    The Abu Sayyaf is a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, and has earned millions of dollars from banditry and kidnappings-for-ransom, often targetting foreigners.

    It is among armed groups based in the strife-torn region of Mindanao, some of whose members have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

    Jolo also lies in the proposed Bangsamoro Muslim-majority autonomous region, which local voters overwhelmingly approved last week.

    Voters ratified a law creating a new autonomous region in the Philippines’ south, raising hopes that the move will bring peace and development to the impoverished area after decades of fighting left thousands dead. Sulu province — which includes Jolo — voted against the creation of the new region, with its governor filing a petition in the Supreme Court to prevent its formation.

    Despite Sulu’s vote, the province is legally required to join Bangsamoro because voters from across the current autonomous region voted in favour of it on the whole.

    Sunday’s bombing comes after a New Year’s eve blast in the southern Philippine city of Cotabato killed two people and wounded 35 others.

    Cotabato last week voted to be included in the new autonomous region.

    The timing of Sunday’s bombs raised questions on whether the attack was meant to derail the peace process.

    Mujiv Hataman, governor of the current autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao, said the blasts highlighted the urgency of implementing the peace law.

     

  • Boko Haram: Flee from terrorists, be fired – Buratai warns commanders

    The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, has warned commanders against fleeing from Boko Haram insurgents in the troubled North East to avoid being dismissed from the service.

    The Army Chief in a circulated memo released recently stipulated guidelines warning Nigerian Army commanders of grave consequences should they abandon their positions in the face of firepower from Boko Haram insurgents.

    The 180-word memo, sent to all commanders at all levels, formations and locations in the nine-year-long war against Islamist militants across Nigeria’s North-east, was a direct response to the recent killing and maiming of soldiers and officers by terrorists, amidst renewed fears of a resurgent Boko Haram.

    Investigations, however, revealed that at least two officers and 43 soldiers have been killed in Boko Haram attacks on military targets between July 13 and 26, a shocking setback that sent the country’s top military brass seething,

    “Recent occurrences in” ‘Operation Lafiya Dole’ “where units abandon their positions cowardly in the face of action” from Boko Haram terrorists “without reasonable resistance is worrisome,” Mr Buratai said in the July 27 memo to all commanders, adding that it “portrayed” them as “incompetent and cowardly”.

    “It also has the potentials to rubbish all the laudable gains made” in the war against Boko Haram

    “Consequently,” Buratai, a lieutenant-general, said any commander who “abandons his position in the face” of enemy fire “leading to avoidable death of troops and loss of equipment will be subjected” to harsh punishments as enumerated in the Armed Forces Act.

    “All should be reminded that the law recommended any officer or soldier found guilty of cowardly behavior ‘shall on conviction by a court martial be liable to suffer death or any less punishment provided by the Act,’ depending on the circumstances of the case.”

  • Breaking: Police arrest, parade vicious, notorious Benue armed gang [Photos]

    Breaking: Police arrest, parade vicious, notorious Benue armed gang [Photos]

    The Nigerian Police Force (NPF) have arrested and paraded vicious and notorious suspects responsible for selling and supply of AK47 rifles and other firearms and ammunition to armed bandits, militias and criminal herdsmen/farmers in Benue and Taraba states.

    TheNewsGuru reports the major breakthrough in the arrest of the notorious gang of dealers in prohibited firearms and ammunition in Benue and Taraba states was made known on Tuesday when the suspects were paraded at the Benue State Police Command Headquarters.

    The Police paraded one 36 years old Morris Ashwe, an illegal firearms Dealer, who is said to be a native of Mbajima Village of Katsina Ala LGA of Benue State, reportedly working for one Terwase Akwaza aka Ghana.

    Morris Ashwe, 36
    Morris Ashwe, 36

    Recovered from Morris were five (5) AK47 Rifles, two hundred and thirty eight (238) rounds of AK47 ammunition, forty (40) smoke grenade canisters and seventy-nine (79) LAR rifle ammunition.

    Arms and ammunition
    Recovered arms and ammunition

    Also arrested and paraded are illegal firearms dealers: Kabiru Idris, 43 years, a principal suspect, who was arrested in Takum town, Taraba state; Miracle Emmanuel, also a principal suspect and gang leader, 27 years native of Anambra state, and Husseini Safiyanu, a native of Taraba state, who is also a principal suspect.

    Suspects and recovered arms on parade
    Suspects and recovered arms on parade
    Recovered ammunition and smoke grenade canisters
    Recovered ammunition and smoke grenade canisters

    Recovered from the suspects were five (5) AK47 rifles, thirteen (13) AK47 magazines, eighty three (83) rounds of AK47 ammunition and two (2) Beretta Pistols.

    Police parade suspects
    Police parade suspects

    The NPF also arrested and paraded Emmanuel Ushehemba Kwembe, 28 years native of Ushongo LGA; Sekad Uver, 28 years native of Koshisha LGA; Ordure Fada, 22 years native of Kwande LGA, and Stephen Jirgba, 18 years native of Vande kya LGA, all in Benue State; and who are said to be kidnappers/armed robbers.

    Suspects on parade
    Suspects on parade

    The Police also arrested and paraded Peter Lorham, 24 years native of Kinshisha; Achir Gabriel, 30 years native of Ushongo, and Lorhemen Akwambe, 35 years native of Guma, alleged to be kidnappers/armed robbers.

    Smoke grenade canisters recovered from suspects
    Smoke grenade canisters recovered from suspects

    “The renewed strategies adopted by the NPF to stop the incessant killings of innocent Nigerians and curtail the proliferation of firearms across the country, most especially in the North-Central States have been yielding positive results,” the Police said in a statement.

    TheNewsGuru reports the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IGP IRT) and the Police Special Forces mandated by the IGP to work with Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba State Commands, in the last two weeks, arrested the 11 suspects mentioned within Benue and Taraba States and recovered from them the 10 AK47 rifles and the other assorted firearms and ammunition.

    The suspects confessed to have been responsible for supply of AK47 rifles and other firearms and ammunition to armed bandits, militias, and criminal herdsmen/farmers in Benue and Taraba States.

    Morris confessed and admitted to have been supplying firearms and ammunition to the notorious and most wanted vicious and notorious gang leader of militia, murderers and kidnappers Terwase Akwaza aka Ghana.

    “Terwase Akwaza aka Ghana was declared wanted by the NPF for the merciless killings of several innocent persons and wanton destruction of properties worth millions of Naira, at Zaki Biam in Benue State on 20/3/2017 and for other violent crimes,” the Police said.

    The Police revealed that the suspected kidnappers were arrested in the act of movement to kidnap a prominent person in Makurdi Benue State.

    “The arrest was made possible from intelligence gathered by the IGP Intelligence Response Team,” the Police stated.

    The suspects confessed to have been responsible for several kidnappings in Benue, Taraba and some part of Nasarawa State in the recent past.

    According to the Police, “Investigation is being strengthened to arrest other suspects at large. All suspects will be arraigned in court on completion of investigation”.

    “The deployment of additional Fifteen (15) Police mobile Force units to augment the strength of the Benue State Police Command has beefed-up security in the State and help in sustaining the peace that have been restored to the state,” the Police said.

    The Force assured the people of Benue and other contiguous state of its commitment to sustain the peace that has been restored in those states.

     

     

  • Killer herdsmen are nothing but terrorists – Senator Sani

    Killer herdsmen are nothing but terrorists – Senator Sani

    Senator Shehu Sani has said herdsmen who are responsible for the killings and slaughtering in Benue and Taraba are nothing but terrorists “except if we want to call a spade a pestle or a spoon”.

    The Senator representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly said this on Monday in reaction to Saturday afternoon’s raid by suspected bandits at Gwaska in Birnin-Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

    “Herdsmen who commit massacre in Benue and Taraba and ‘Bandits’ who commit massacre in Zamfara and Birnin Gwari in Kaduna state, are nothing but terrorists; except if we want to call a spade a pestle or a spoon,” he stated.

    The Kaduna Senator vowed to support President Muhammadu Buhari on the floor of the Senate to fund and equip the DSS, Police and Civil Defence, as he did to the military to “bring an end to all the excuses now ‘produced daily in an industrial-scale’”.

    “The indifference of the ruling political establishment to end the ceaseless violence and killings in the country is based on the fact that the victims are the poor and the peasants in rural areas.

    “Again and again, I will continue to raise the tragic situation of Birnin Gwari on the floor of the senate until it touches the conscience of those responsible for its security to prioritize human lives over 2019 politics.

    “Mass burial has become ‘a daily ritual’ in Birnin Gwari. We must admit the fact that the police and the army have nothing much to work with to enable them confront the danger and the superior fire power of the armed bandits,” he said.

    TheNewsGuru reports bandits attacked Gwaska village in Birnin Gwari on Saturday afternoon leaving about 45 persons dead.

    Residents said the killings occurred around 2:30 p.m. when the bandits stormed the village in large numbers on motorcycles. They also burnt many houses in the community.

    Confirming the incident, Kaduna State Police commissioner, Austin Iwar, said the police have deployed over 150 personnel to the area as directed by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, on Sunday.

    “Yes 45 people were confirmed dead and as we speak the state command have already deployed 150 policemen to the area to provide security,” he said.

    “We will also deploy another 200 police officers by next week to help protect lives and property in Birnin Gwari. We are doing everything possible to secure the area,” he said.

    On the need for the command to work with local vigilante in the area, Mr Austin said the police is already doing so and will continue to work with them in the area of community policing.

    A community leader in Birnin Gwari, who identified himself as Hussaini, said over 40 bodies were brought to emir’s place in Birnin Gwari on Sunday afternoon.

    “Some bodies that were seemed to have been burnt were already buried by their love ones at Doka and Mando villages, few kilometres from Birnin Gwari town,” he said.

    Following the latest attack, Governor Nasir El-Rufai on Sunday evening had announced that the federal government agreed to deploy a permanent army battalion in the troubled area.

    Personal Assistant to President Buhari on New Media, Bashir Ahmad today said the FG has approved a new military battalion, a new Police Area Command and two additional Div Police HQs for the area.

    He said it was in efforts by the Buhari government “To bring an end to the bloodletting, and ensure that the criminals behind it are brought to justice,” while adding “The killings in Birnin Gwari are regrettable”.

    El-Rufai confirmed the development, stressing the engagements between the State and Federal Governments is yielding results.

    “Military and security deployments have continued in the area since then, but the bandits hiding in the forests continue to exert a deadly toll, killing civilians, soldiers and other security forces.

    “The Federal Government has now approved a permanent army battalion in the area, instead of the previous ad-hoc deployments. Police strength in the Birnin-Gwari axis is also being enhanced,” the Kaduna state governor confirmed.

     

  • Army, NAF invade Sambisa, kill several terrorists

    …destroy sophisticated arms

    Troops of the Nigerian Army has neutralised seven remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists in the Sambisa forest and Northern Borno on Friday in an operation supported by the Air Force.

    According to a statement by Sani Usman, the Director of Army Public Relations of the Army late Friday, troops also destroyed 11 gun trucks and 12 Hilux vehicles during the operation.

    Mr. Usman, a brigadier general, said other terrorists’ equipment destroyed were make-shift accommodation around Camp Zairo, Improvised Explosives Device (IEDs), booby traps and other delaying obstacles and devices.

    “In addition, the gallant troops recovered one gun truck, one anti-aircraft gun, one machine gun, a pistol, large quantity of anti-aircraft gun ammunition, a 120mm mortar base Plate and a dane gun,” he said.

    Mr. Usman added that three canter trucks, two double barrel rifles, 30 bicycles, power generating sets, cylinders, printers, military kits and IED making workshop were also destroyed by troops.

    “Unfortunately, two soldiers were wounded during the encounter.

    “The wounded soldiers have since been evacuated by Nigerian Air Force and are responding to treatment,” the army spokesman said.

    He said the GOC 7 Division and Commander, 26 Task Force Brigade, Maj.-Gen. I. M. Yusuf, and Maj.-Gen. I. M. Obot, have visited the troops and commended them on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, for a job well done.

    Mr. Usman urged the people of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states to report any fleeing Boko Haram terrorist seen around their communities.

    He also urged them to look out for the wounded terrorists and report to the nearest military or Police location.

     

  • Benue massacre: IPOB didn’t kill as much as herdsmen before you declared them terrorist, Soyinka lampoons Buhari

    Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka on Wednesday lambasted the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for not being proactive in curtailing the excesses of herdsmen who recently murdered over sixty people in Benue State.

    The literary icon further stated that the Indigenous People of Biafa, and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu did not perpetuate as much as the herdsmen are flagrantly doing before the Federal Government declared them (IPOB) a terrorist organization.

    Soyinka who was recently under fierce attack for his perceived quietness on the ‘misdeeds’ of the Buhari administration said this in article he titled ‘Impunity rides again’ and released on Wednesday.

    “I am not aware that IPOB came anywhere close to this homicidal propensity and will to dominance before it was declared a terrorist organization.

    “The international community rightly refused to go along with such an absurdity. The conduct of that movement, even at its most extreme, could by no means be reckoned as terrorism. By contrast, how do we categorize Myeti?,” Soyinka said.

    The Nobel Laureate further alleged that President Buhari was handling the Fulani herdsmen killings the way his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan handled the raving Boko Haram crisis back then in 2014.

    In his words: “Yes, Jonathan only saw ‘ghosts’ when Boko Haram was already excising swathes of territory from the nation space and abducting school pupils. The ghosts of Jonathan seem poised to haunt the tenure of Mohammed Buhari.”

    He further recalled that after “a hideous massacre” perpetrated by the herdsmen in 2016, a security meeting was called and the cattle rearers “attended the meeting — according to reports — with AK47s and other weapons of mass intimidation visible under their garments”.

    “They were neither disarmed nor turned back. They freely admitted the killings but justified them by claims that they had lost their cattle to the host community,” he said.

    “Such are the monstrous beginnings of the culture of impunity. We are reaping, yet again, the consequences of such tolerance of the intolerable. Yes, there indeed the government is culpable, definitely guilty of ‘looking the other way’. Indeed, it must be held complicit.”

     

    Reacting to a statement that herdsmen were in defence of their stolen cows, the nobel laureate, said, “How do we assess a mental state that cannot distinguish between a stolen cow – which is always recoverable – and human life, which is not.

    “Villages have been depopulated far wider than those outside their operational zones can conceive. They swoop on sleeping settlements, kill and strut. They glory in their seeming supremacy.”

  • Benue massacre: Treat killer herdsmen as terrorists – Fayose tells Buhari

    Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State on Tuesday urged the federal government to arrest and treat Fulani herdsmen on a killing spree in Benue and some parts of the state as terrorists.

    The governor said the killings in Benue state have attained a frightening dimension beyond herdsmen-farmers strife.

    In a series of tweets, Mr. Fayose said the federal government “must act now” as the herdsmen menace has gotten to the level of, ”terrorism and ethnic cleansing.”

    “Just now, we heard news of the herdsmen attacking the camp of Mobile policemen, Mopol 13 in Benue, killing two officers by slitting their throats. Do you call people who could invade the camp of mobile policemen in a guerilla manner and overpower armed Mopol, mere Fulani herdsmen?

    “What is happening in Benue and other middle-belt States is more than a strive (strife) between herdsmen and local farmers, it has gotten to the level of terrorism and ethnic cleansing. FG must act now,” Mr. Fayose tweeted.

    An invasion of Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of Benue State during the new year by suspected armed Fulani herdsmen left at least 57 people dead.

    Recall that the presidency had earlier in a statement on Tuesday denied President Muhammadu Buhari’s complacency in the killings.

    The statement, issued Tuesday by presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu, said Mr. Buhari was “conscious of his duty to Nigerians, not least because he is held accountable for everything that goes wrong”.

    “He deeply sympathises with the families and all the other direct and indirect victims of this violence. He is determined to bring it to a permanent end,” the statement said.

    The statement also revealed that Mr. Buhari had been advised to challenge the constitutionality of the anti-open grazing law passed by Benue and Ekiti States, ”a suggestion he rejected.”

  • Fulani herdsmen are not terrorists – Presidency

    Fulani herdsmen are not terrorists – Presidency

    The presidency has faulted the several criticisms and pressure mounted on the Buhari-led administration to label killer Fulani herdsmen as terrorists.

    Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu has said Fulani herdsmen are criminals but not terrorists.

    He said this on Channels TV on Thursday while responding to a question on why the Federal Government did not declare the herdsmen terrorists.

    Following the numerous killing of innocent Nigerians, especially farmers by herdsmen, Nigerians had called on the government to take drastic actions on the assailants.

    The Federal Government had however not made a clear statement on the killings perpetrated by the herdsmen.

    Some Nigerians have also questioned the declaration of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist group, while the herdsmen have continued to kill citizens.

    A Federal High Court in Abuja had on Wednesday declared secessionist group, IPOB, a terrorist organisation.

    There is a difference between a criminal activity and a terrorist activity.Fulani herdsmen are already being dealt with according to the law.
    IPOB had carved out a territory for itself, just like Boko Haram.

    “There is a difference between a criminal activity and a terrorist activity. Yes, some Fulani herdsmen are a criminal gang and they are being dealt with according to the law,” he said.

    “But IPOB like Boko Haram has a territory they have carved out to themselves …as a sovereign state of its own…. They have shown the willingness to invade other neighbouring states. They have raised concerns in neighbouring Kogi and Benue states. They have said they are interested in taking over Bayelsa and Rivers. That is exactly what Boko Haram has done. This is not acceptable to the law of the country.”

  • Another 9 B’Haram terrorists surrender to troops, plead for sympathy

    Another nine Boko Haram terrorists have surrendered themselves to troops on Saturday at Buni Yari in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe, the army has said.

    According to a statement issued by Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, the army spokesman inAbuja, the terrorists are: Usman Ali, 22, Ibrahim Matukur, 13 and Usman Hussaini 25.

    Others are, Ali Baba, Modu Wakil, 15, Usman Mahamadu, 47 years, Goni Bukar, 50, Modu Konto and Isah Ali, 25.

    Usman said that the repentant terrorists claimed to belong to the Mamman Nur faction of the Boko Haram terrorists group.

    “They said that they deliberately surrendered because they had realised their folly and no longer wish to continue with the criminal terrorists and insurgents activities.

    “Furthermore, they stated that they escaped from the terrorists’ hideout at Buk village in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno state,” the army spokesman quoted them as saying.

    Usman also said that they claimed that there were many more Boko Haram fighters willing to surrender because of untold hardship they suffered.

    “They pleaded for sympathy and forgiveness from members of the community, restating that they were misguided and deceived all these years to believing they were fighting a just cause.”

    According to Usman, they urge the military authorities to make concerted efforts to reach out to other terrorists in the forest, as they are willing to surrender.

    Many terrorists in recent time have been surrendering, including 700 who gave themselves up to troops in June.

    In another development, Usman said that troops of 103 Battalion, also on Saturday neutralised three female suicide bombers, who tried to infiltrate their location at Kawuri, Konduga Local Government Area of Borno.

    He said the bombers were spotted by a vigilant sentry while they were tried to access the military location.

     

    NAN

  • Eid-el-Fitri: DSS foils plans by terrorists to attack Kano, Sokoto, others

    The Department of State Services, DSS, announced on Friday that it arrested suspected terrorists planning to attack Kano, Sokoto, Kaduna and Maiduguri during the Sallah celebration.

    The federal government had earlier declared Monday and Tuesday next week as public holidays for the Islamic festival.

    In a statement on Friday signed by Tony Opuiyo, the DSS said, “The past few weeks, this service has uncovered a sinister plot by terrorist elements to stage series of coordinated attacks using explosives on different cities across the country.”

    Two suspects, Yusuf Adamu and Abdumuminu Haladu, were apprehended by the domestic intelligence agency during the early hours of Friday in Sokoto.

    According to the statement, Mr. Adamu and his accomplice were to command the operation in Kano.

    “However, the Service had earlier arrested the facilitator of the Kano attack, an explosive expert by name Bashir Mohammed at Unguwar Barnawa, Shekar Madaki, Kumbatso LGA, Kano State on June 20”.

    “Their plan, together with others now at large, was to assemble the explosives and use them on select targets during the Eid-el-Fitr Celebrations”.

    “Their aim was to hit on soft targets such as markets, public parks, public processions, recreation centres, as well as worship centres especially the Eid Praying Grounds and other densely populated areas during the forthcoming Eid-el-Fitr Sallah celebration. The latest plan by the terrorists was to unleash mayhem on Kano, Sokoto, Kaduna and Maiduguri,” the agency said.

    However, the service assured Nigerians that the planned terrorist attacks in the states have been foiled by the agency.

    The agency said during the arrest of Mr. Mohammed in Kumbotso, Kano, a search was conducted at his residence where it recovered “Eight (8) AK-47 rifles, Twenty (20) fully loaded AK-A7 magazines, Twenty-seven (27) hand grenades, Seven hundred and ninety-three (793) rounds of live ammunition.”

    One gas cylinder, three laptops, one mobile phone, a motorcycle, a car, and a printer were also recovered.

    The DSS also said it uncovered plans by the terrorists to infiltrate the ranks of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, which has been demanding the release of its leader Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, held without trial since December 2015.

    “This is in an attempt to assume a formidable cover to unleash violence and evoke a complete state of chaos in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja during the group’s Qudus Day Procession/Rally scheduled for Friday in Abuja and several States in the Northern parts of the country”.

    “Sequel to this, the Service is warning members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) to desist from staging any form of procession or demonstration as the terrorists will seize the opportunity to unleash mayhem”. Mr. Opuiyo said.

    The rallies by the IMN had, however, been held across many cities, in a largely peaceful atmosphere, before the DSS statement.

    “The Service is working, in concert with other security agencies, to ensure that no section of the country is attacked during and after the Sallah celebrations”.

    “Law abiding citizens and residents are not only assured of their safety but enjoined to go about their normal businesses without fear of attack. It pledges to engage all stakeholders to ensure a hitch free Eid-el-fitr festival across the country,” it stated.