Nigeria

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Boko Haram Hiding in Vast, Snake-Ridden Forest

Sambisa Forest stretches for 23K square miles

(Newser) - Boko Haram has a tactical advantage: The Muslim extremist group suspected of kidnapping Nigerian girls is hiding out in old military bunkers, in an enormous forest where vegetation grows as high as six feet, Fox News reports. What's more, the 23,000-square-mile Sambisa Forest is teeming with poisonous snakes...

Boko Haram Stages Massacre as Nigeria Offers $300K for Girls

Reports say brutal attack in village killed at least 150

(Newser) - Nigeria is apparently feeling the international pressure over its kidnapped girls, with the national police offering a $300,000 reward today for information that leads to their rescue, reports the BBC . (The move comes a day after President Obama promised that a US team would help the cause.) But...

Obama: We'll 'Do Everything We Can' to Find Nigeria Girls

US team joins hunt, will include psychologists, investigators

(Newser) - President Obama has promised that the US will "do everything we can to recover" the 276 schoolgirls seized by militants in Nigeria three weeks ago. A White House spokesman says the team the US is sending to the country will include military and law enforcement personnel skilled in intelligence,...

US Sending Team to Nigeria to Help Find Kidnapped Girls

State Dept. says it will 'do everything we can to free these young women'

(Newser) - Today began with one of the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls telling of her escape from Boko Haram , quickly followed by the kidnapping of eight more schoolgirls in the country's northeast, and is now met with the news that the United States is sending in a response team to assist Nigeria....

8 More Girls Kidnapped in Nigeria

Boko Haram again suspected in latest attack

(Newser) - A day after reports that Boko Haram planned to sell kidnap victims , the extremist group is suspected in the kidnapping of eight more girls in Nigeria, Reuters reports. The girls, ages 12 to 15, were taken from a village near one of the group's northeastern Nigeria bases. "They...

'We Ran So Fast': Girl Tells of Escape From Boko Haram

As town laments government inaction

(Newser) - The girls could hear gunfire outside the school, so at first, when men claiming to be soldiers came in and promised to rescue them, they were relieved. That didn't last long. The men burned down a school storeroom before herding the girls outside. "They started shouting 'Allahu...

Boko Haram: We'll Sell Kidnapped Girls at Market

AFP obtains video featuring group's leader

(Newser) - Islamist militant group Boko Haram has acknowledged in a video obtained by AFP that it's behind the kidnappings of more than 200 girls in Nigeria last month. "I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah," leader Abubakar Shekau says. He adds that...

Nigeria: Kidnapped Girls Taken Out of Country

Some schoolgirls likely in Chad, Cameroon, officials say

(Newser) - Around 230 teenage girls kidnapped by Islamic extremists in Nigeria earlier this month are still missing and authorities say some of them have been shifted out of the country and forced to marry Boko Haram militants. "Some of them have been taken across Lake Chad and some have been...

Parents: Kidnappers Took 234 Nigerian Girls, Not 85

Significantly more than initially reported; Boko Haram suspected

(Newser) - Some 234 girls are missing from the northeast Nigerian school attacked last week by Islamic extremists, significantly more than the 85 or so reported by education officials , parents told the state governor today. The higher figure came out a week after the kidnappings when the Borno state governor insisted a...

Nigeria: Abducted Girls Could Become Sex Slaves

14 have escaped after suspected Boko Haram attack

(Newser) - After the mass kidnapping this week of 129 teen girls from a Nigerian school, 14 have reportedly escaped—and the rest may still be held captive. Some 52 were still said by their parents to be missing yesterday, the New York Times reports, but the school's principal put it...

Boko Haram Abducts 100 Teen Girls in Nigeria

Terror network grabs students back for final exams

(Newser) - Suspected Muslim extremists kidnapped about 100 girls today from a school in northeastern Nigeria, less than a day after militants bombed a bus station and killed 75 people in the capital—a surge of violence that raised new doubts about the military's ability to contain an uprising by the...

Police Collect Body Parts After Huge Nigeria Blast

71 dead, at least 124 others wounded, dozens of vehicles destroyed

(Newser) - A massive explosion ripped through a busy commuter bus station on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital of Abuja this morning, leaving 71 dead and 124 wounded, according to police. Reporters saw rescue workers and police gathering body parts, as well as ambulances rushing the wounded to the hospital. The...

Extremists Destroy 1K Homes in Nigerian Attack

Governor admits attackers are 'better armed and motivated' than military

(Newser) - Hundreds of Islamic extremists posing as soldiers attacked a northeast Nigerian town for hours, killing 39 people and razing a mosque and more than 1,000 homes, survivors said. In the ruins of the burned-out mosque, bodies covered in cloth lay ready for burial today, including three small shrouds covering...

Nigeria Quietly Bans Gay Marriage

New law also bans homosexual displays of affection

(Newser) - Nigeria has quietly signed a controversial law banning same-sex marriage, along with gay clubs, organizations, and public displays of homosexual affection. How quietly? Well, the legislature passed it back on Dec. 17, and President Goodluck Jonathan signed it last Tuesday, according to a copy obtained by the AP, but it'...

2 Americans Kidnapped by Pirates Are Freed

They were taken from ship off the coast of Nigeria

(Newser) - Two American sailors kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria last month have been freed, reports CNN . Their names have not been made public, but the State Department confirms the pair's release. The men were taken off their US-flagged ship about three weeks ago and identified only as...

Spain Busts 25 in Sex Slave Ring: Police

5 victims freed in operation

(Newser) - Spanish police say they've busted a gang of 25 Nigerians who were engaged in human trafficking, Internet fraud, and money laundering. Five women victims of sex slavery were released during the crackdown on the underground operation in Spain, the police say. The gang was using Spain as a springboard...

Pirates Kidnap 2 Americans
 Pirates Kidnap 2 Americans 

Pirates Kidnap 2 Americans

They are believed to have been taken ashore

(Newser) - Pirates have kidnapped two Americans after attacking an oil supply ship off the Nigerian coast, according to a US defense official. The 222-foot C-Retriever was attacked yesterday morning; a captain and engineer were taken, and the AP reports it is believed they were brought ashore. The incident occurred in the...

UN Elects 5 New Security Council Members

But human rights groups aren't happy with some choices

(Newser) - Saudi Arabia and Chad easily won coveted seats on the UN Security Council today, despite criticism from human rights groups that their rights records are abysmal. Nigeria, Lithuania, and Chile also won seats. The five candidates endorsed by regional groups faced no opposition because there were no contested races for...

Number of Slaves on the Planet: 30M

Victims in 162 countries; half are in India

(Newser) - Slavery continues to afflict almost 30 million people across the planet—in every one of 162 countries surveyed in a new report. India is home to 13.9 million slaves, by far the largest number; relative to population, however, Mauritania has the highest rate, with 4% of the population enslaved...

Nigeria: Boko Haram Kills 50 Students Asleep in Dorms

Nigeria says gunmen stormed college dorm early today

(Newser) - Islamic extremists attacked an agricultural college in the dead of night, gunning down dozens of students as they slept in dormitories and torching classrooms in an ongoing Islamic uprising in northeast Nigeria, the school's provost said. Molima Idi Mato, provost of the Yobe State College of Agriculture told the...

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