Latest news with #IslamicState
an hour ago
- Politics
Armed men in western Niger kill 34 soldiers and wound 14, authorities say
DAKAR, Senegal -- Armed men killed 34 soldiers and wounded 14 others in western Niger near the tri-state border with Mali and Burkina Faso, the defense ministry said. The attack was carred out around 9 a.m. Thursday in Banibangou by attackers using eight vehicles and more than 200 motorbikes, the ministry said in a statement. The government said its forces killed dozens of attackers it called 'terrorists,' adding that search operations by land and air were being conduted to find additional assailants. Niger, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by jihadi groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in the three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia's mercenary units for security assistance. The three countries have vowed to strengthen their cooperation by establishing a new security alliance, the Alliance of Sahel States. But the security situation in the Sahel, a vast region on the fringes of the Sahara Desert, has significantly worsened since the juntas took power, analysts say, with a record number of attacks and civilians killed by Islamic militants and government forces.
The Sun
4 hours ago
- The Sun
Armed men on motor-bikes kill 34 Niger soldiers, ministry says
NIAMEY: Several hundred armed men, many on motor-bikes, attacked a Niger army base near the border with Mali, leaving at least 34 soldiers dead and 14 wounded, the Defence Ministry said. The attackers - described as 'mercenaries' by the ministry - used eight vehicles and more than 200 motor-bikes in the raid on the base in Bani-bangou on Thursday, according to the statement read out on state TV. It did not say which group was responsible. Niger, like other countries in West Africa's Sahel region, is battling Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State. Troops carried out aerial and ground search operations to secure the area after the attack, the ministry said without going into more detail on the assault.
The Independent
4 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
What Trump must decide in his two week pause on the Israel-Iran conflict
Britain, France, Germany and the European Union are all rushing their foreign ministers to Geneva for talks with Iran in the desperate attempt to give peace a chance. But it is not clear that peace now is the best option. A week into Israel's bombardment of Iran, and its assassination of its top nuclear scientists and securocrats, the Islamic State has tightened its grip – and the nuclear facilities half a mile underground in Fordow remain intact. If Iran is brought back to the negotiating table at Geneva, whatever it says, the last week has shown that the only future for the survival of the current rulers of Tehran is to build a nuclear weapon. From the Israeli and American perspective, they may feel the only way to ensure this doesn't happen is to double down on the targeting of Iran and change the regime. On top of that Russia, a close ally of Tehran and part of a Fearsome Foursome that includes North Korea and China, will see diplomacy now as an opportunity to stop regime change and reinforce its waning influence in the Middle East. Before the planned Geneva meeting, David Lammy said: 'We are determined that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon.' Trying to slow the imminent sense of global war, Donald Trump has said that he's pausing any decision on backing Israel for a couple of weeks because he wants to give diplomacy a chance. In terms of strikes, the US has the only weapon that could, conceivably, destroy the Fordow nuclear programme 18 miles north of the central Iranian city of Qom half a mile under ground: the GBU-57/B, is a MOP – Massive Ordinance Penetrator. It weighs 13.6 tonnes, is 6.2m long but only 0.8m wide and carries about 2.5 tonnes of explosive. It can penetrate 60m of rock before exploding as it hits the ground like a needle travelling at around double the speed of sound. It would take several MOPs to clear up Fordow and wipe away Iran's nuclear programme – with no guarantee of a clean slate. If the Iranian government that took power after the 1979 revolution - and maintains control through a vast network of military and security services underpinned by the Basij citizen's militia - survived this assault, it would be surprising if it did not secretly re-start building nukes to ensure that next time Israel thinks twice about bombing the capital and killings Iran's commanders. 'A window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution,' said Mr Lammy. 'Now is the time to put a stop to the grave scenes in the Middle East and prevent a regional escalation that would benefit no one." It might, though. Assuming that Trump's advisers have somehow got around the bizarre characters he has put in charge of defence, Pete Hegseth, and the intelligence services, Tulsi Gabbard, they will be helping him wrestle with a conundrum. Should America go back into the business of regime change – which failed horribly in Iran and Afghanistan and left both nations ruined, riddled with extremism, and deeply anti-American? In theory, the US could join the Israeli effort at low physical risk to pilots, bomb Fordow, break the back of the regime and stand back to watch Iranians themselves rise against their oppressors. That's what Benjamin Netanyahu would like. Or should the US stay back – give Israel every help in defending itself against Iranian counter attacks – and hope that ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who may be on an Israeli kill list, reckons that the long-term survival of his regime may depend on not returning to developing nuclear weapons. The gamble for the US is that the Iranian government will still harbour the dream of annihilating Israel and, unless it agrees to a 100 per cent intrusive inspection programme by nuclear experts 24/7, it can never be trusted not to clamber back onto a horse of the apocalypse. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi is expected to join the European talks in Geneva. They are an opportunity to shoulder the US out of talks, which the Trump administration hoped would persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear programme. But he has also signalled that while Israel continues to bombard his country, Iran won't get involved in diplomacy. This is a moment that Russia can get back in the game. Moscow and Tehran are military bedfellows, share intelligence, missile technology, and Russia is Iran's civilian nuclear power contractor. Vladimir Putin lost his most valuable military foothold in the west, the port at Tartus when Bashar al Assad, Syria's dictator, fled to safety in Moscow. Assad was also Iran's most important regional client and it also controls Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraq. Putin needs to get back in the game and if he can bring the Iranians to the table he can stymie US and Israeli hopes for regime change by making it impossible for American to join the bombing campaign while talks about peace are going on. A third option for all is to jaw-jaw while really giving Israel's war a chance.
The Sun
4 hours ago
- The Sun
Militant attack on Niger Army base kills 34 soldiers
NIAMEY: Several hundred armed men, many on motor-bikes, attacked a Niger army base near the border with Mali, leaving at least 34 soldiers dead and 14 wounded, the Defence Ministry said. The attackers - described as 'mercenaries' by the ministry - used eight vehicles and more than 200 motor-bikes in the raid on the base in Bani-bangou on Thursday, according to the statement read out on state TV. It did not say which group was responsible. Niger, like other countries in West Africa's Sahel region, is battling Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State. Troops carried out aerial and ground search operations to secure the area after the attack, the ministry said without going into more detail on the assault.
CTV News
4 hours ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Armed men in western Niger kill 34 soldiers and wound 14, authorities say
DAKAR, Senegal — Armed men killed 34 soldiers and wounded 14 others in western Niger near the tri-state border with Mali and Burkina Faso, the defence ministry said. The attack was carried out around 9 a.m. Thursday in Banibangou by attackers using eight vehicles and more than 200 motorbikes, the ministry said in a statement. The government said its forces killed dozens of attackers it called 'terrorists,' adding that search operations by land and air were being conduted to find additional assailants. Niger, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by jihadi groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in the three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia's mercenary units for security assistance. The three countries have vowed to strengthen their cooperation by establishing a new security alliance, the Alliance of Sahel States. But the security situation in the Sahel, a vast region on the fringes of the Sahara Desert, has significantly worsened since the juntas took power, analysts say, with a record number of attacks and civilians killed by Islamic militants and government forces. Monika Pronczuk, The Associated Press
