All posts tagged: Armed Groups

How ISWAP and Boko Haram are reshaping the Lake Chad Basin | Armed Groups News

How ISWAP and Boko Haram are reshaping the Lake Chad Basin | Armed Groups News

Published by Sam Flores

Abuja, Nigeria – The killing of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second-in-command of ISIL (ISIS), by United States and Nigerian forces marks a notable achievement for “counterterrorism”. Yet for analysts observing the Lake Chad Basin, it highlights how persistent and complex insecurity in the region has become. Al-Minuki, a Nigerian national from Borno State, was operating out of a compound near Lake Chad, at the centre of one of the world’s most active armed group theatres. Recommended Stories list of 1 itemend of list His choice of northeastern Nigeria as a base underscores the conditions driving a renewed surge of violence by both the ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and its rival, Jama’at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da’wa wa al-Jihad (JAS), more widely known as Boko Haram. Perhaps equally significant is the parallel resurgence of Boko Haram, which quietly rebuilt itself while security agencies primarily focused on the more dominant ISWAP. “While regional forces focused on countering ISWAP’s threats, partly due to the group’s advanced drone capabilities, Boko Haram appears to have taken advantage of the …

Car bomb attack and ambush in northwest Pakistan kills at least 12 police | Armed Groups News

Car bomb attack and ambush in northwest Pakistan kills at least 12 police | Armed Groups News

Published by Sam Flores

Bomber and several fighters detonate explosives-laden vehicle near security post in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, near Afghanistan. Published On 9 May 20269 May 2026 A car bombing at ⁠a police post, followed by an intense firefight, has killed at least 12 officers ⁠in northwestern Pakistan, according to police and security sources. The attack took place in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, late on Saturday. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list An alliance of armed groups, known as the Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, has claimed responsibility. Police official Zahid Khan told The Associated Press news agency that a suicide bomber and several fighters detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a security post. Shortly after, multiple explosions were heard, and the security post collapsed from the impact of the blast, he said. Images after the attack on Saturday showed the police post had been reduced to rubble, with bricks, charred wreckage, and mangled vehicles scattered around the area. The Reuters news agency, citing security officials, reported that after the bombing, there was an ambush on …

Libya’s largest oil refinery halts operations during fighting | Conflict News

Libya’s largest oil refinery halts operations during fighting | Conflict News

Published by Sam Flores

Zawiya refinery shut down in ‘precautionary measure’ as emergency declared following explosions and gunfire nearby. Published On 8 May 20268 May 2026 Libya’s largest operational oil refinery at Zawiya has been shut down and ‌an emergency declared following fighting between armed groups nearby. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) and Zawiya Refining Company announced a “precautionary halt” to operations and evacuated employees from the oil complex and port. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list NOC confirmed the safety of all employees and added that fuel supplies would continue as normal. A Facebook statement said alarm sirens were activated “following armed clashes involving heavy weapons that erupted around the oil complex in the early hours of Friday”. “These clashes resulted in several heavy weapons projectiles landing in various locations within the oil complex,” adding that no significant damage had been reported. “However, the clashes have intensified and reached the residential area adjacent to the refinery, making the area a direct target for heavy shelling and significantly increasing the risk of further damage,” it said. Authorities …

Gunmen kidnap 23 children from Nigerian orphanage | Conflict News

Gunmen kidnap 23 children from Nigerian orphanage | Conflict News

Published by Sam Flores

Mass kidnappings are a common way for gangs and armed groups to make quick money in Nigeria. By AFP and The Associated Press Published On 27 Apr 202627 Apr 2026 Gunmen have raided an orphanage and kidnapped at least 23 children, authorities in Nigeria report. The gang took the children late on Sunday from an unregistered facility called the Dahallukitab Group of Schools, located in an “isolated area” in Kogi State’s capital, Lokoja, Kogi Information Commissioner Kingsley Fanwo said in a statement on Monday. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Mass kidnappings have become a common way for gangs and armed groups to make quick money in Africa’s most populous country, especially in rural areas with little government presence. Fanwo said the “prompt and coordinated response” of security agencies led to the rescue of 15 children but eight are still missing. The wife of the proprietor of the orphanage was also abducted, according to the statement. “Intensive operations are ongoing to secure the safe return of the remaining eight victims and apprehend the …

Sudan war ‘being fought on women’s bodies’: Survivors detail sexual assault | Sudan war News

Sudan war ‘being fought on women’s bodies’: Survivors detail sexual assault | Sudan war News

Published by Sam Flores

In a new report, Doctors Without Borders says sexual violence is the ‘defining feature’ of the conflict in Sudan. Hanaan was 18 years old when she was raped by members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused of committing widespread “war crimes” during nearly three years of fighting against Sudan’s army. She was walking alongside a female friend to her makeshift home in an encampment for displaced people in South Darfur, when four men on motorbikes stopped them and asked where they were going. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “Two took each girl, and they raped us,” she told Doctors Without Borders, an international medical NGO known by its French initials MSF. “I feel uncomfortable in my body, heavy. I don’t feel pain, apart from in my back – because they beat me, they beat me with their guns on my back,” she said. Hanaan – not her real name – shared her testimony as part of a report released by MSF on Tuesday, which details the widespread use …

‘Holding hands’: How Nigeria turned Trump’s threats to military partnership | Conflict News

‘Holding hands’: How Nigeria turned Trump’s threats to military partnership | Conflict News

Published by Sam Flores

In early November, a social media post by United States President Donald Trump set off alarm bells across Nigeria. The US “Department of War”, he said, was preparing to go into the West African country “guns-a-blazing” over what he claimed was the killing of Christians in Nigeria. Nigeria’s government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu swiftly hit back, rejecting the claims, saying that while the country faced a challenging security situation due to armed groups and banditry, it was untrue that Christians were specifically being targeted, as Muslim communities and traditional believers had also come under attack. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list But the Trump administration was not appeased. It had placed Nigeria on its “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPC) watchlist for religious freedom, and soon made threats of sanctions, cuts to financial aid, and punitive measures against Abuja for “failing” to protect Christians. As Nigerians worried about a potential bombing campaign against their nation, the Tinubu government — though still denying accusations of a “Christian genocide” — quietly pivoted. Instead of aggressive …

Chronicle of a mass kidnapping: The day Nigeria’s Kurmin Wali changed | Armed Groups News

Chronicle of a mass kidnapping: The day Nigeria’s Kurmin Wali changed | Armed Groups News

Published by Sam Flores

Kurmin Wali, Nigeria – Like most Sundays in Kurmin Wali, the morning of January 18 began with early preparations for church and, later on, shopping at the weekly market. But by 9:30am, it became clear to residents of the village in the Kajuru local government area of Nigeria’s Kaduna State that this Sunday would not be a normal one. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Gunmen known locally as bandits arrived in the village in numbers, armed with AK47 rifles. They broke down doors and ordered people out of their homes and the village’s three churches. They blocked the village exits before taking people and marching dozens into the forest at gunpoint. Some captives were taken from church, while others were forcibly kidnapped as gunmen moved from house to house. In one house, more than 30 members of an extended family were abducted. Jummai Idris, a relative of the family that was taken, remains inconsolable. She was home the day of the attack and did not go out. “When I heard shouting, I …