Nigeria

ABUJA, Jan 19 (NNN-Xinhua) — Thirty bandits were killed in a gunfight with troops in Nigeria’s northwest region, a spokesman for the military said.

The incident occurred on Sunday at the Maje Riverline axis in the Bugundu local government area of the northern state of Zamfara, said Ibikunle Daramola, a spokesman for the Nigerian Airforce.

Daramola said that the operation was in response to reports that scores of bandits, along with a large number of rustled livestock, were spotted heading toward Kekuwuje, a town along the Yar-Katsina road in Zamfara.

ABUJA, Jan 6 (NNN-IRIN) – Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, met with visiting Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi yesterday, with both sides pledging to promote bilateral cooperation on all fronts.

Buhari asked Wang to convey his sincere greetings to Chinese President, Xi Jinping.

Buhari said, over the past 50 years, Nigeria-China relations achieved constructive results and Nigeria is very satisfied with the progress of bilateral relations.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen in Nigeria abducted more than 80 Islamic school students in northwestern Katsina state Saturday night, but the pupils were quickly rescued by security forces after a fierce gun battle, police announced Sunday.

The foiled abduction comes less than two days after the release of 344 schoolboys who were kidnapped in the same area on Dec. 11. The incidents have highlighted the insecurity in northern Nigeria.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — More than 300 schoolboys abducted last week by armed men in northwest Nigeria have been released, a government official said Thursday.

In an announcement on Nigerian state TV, NTA, Katsina State Gov. Aminu Bello Masari said the 344 boarding school students were turned over to security officials and were being brought to the state capital, where they will get physical examinations before being reunited with their families.

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Rebels from the Boko Haram extremist group claimed responsibility Tuesday for abducting hundreds of boys from a school in Nigeria’s northern Katsina State last week in one of the largest such attacks in years, raising fears of a growing wave of violence in the region.

More than 330 students remain missing from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara after gunmen with assault rifles attacked their school Friday night, although scores of others managed to escape.

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Hundreds of Nigerian students are missing after gunmen attacked a secondary school in the country’s northwestern Katsina state, police said, while the president said the military was in gunfights with bandits in a forest as it tried to find the students.

The Government Science Secondary School in Kankara was attacked Friday night by a large group of bandits who shot “with AK-47 rifles,” Katsina State police spokesman Gambo Isah said in a statement.

ABUJA, Nov 29 (NNN-Xinhua) — Dozens of Boko Haram militants were killed in a series of airstrikes carried out by the military in Nigeria’s northeast region, a military spokesman said.

Some hideouts of the terror group were also destroyed in the airstrikes on Friday at the village of Ngwuri Gana, along the Gulumba Gana-Kumshe axis and Tumbuma Baba of the northern state of Borno which shares a border with Lake Chad.

LAGOS, Nov 19 (NNN-XINHUA) – Health authorities in Nigeria’s southern state of Anambra, said, the state has vaccinated about 5.5 million residents against yellow fever, during a campaign against the disease.

The latest vaccination, which began on Oct 30, took place in 19 areas of the state, said Vincent Okpala, the state commissioner for health.

“Our target is to vaccinate about six million residents, and we hope to achieve that by the end of the exercise,” the official added.

ABUJA, Nov 17 (NNN-Xinhua) — A group of unidentified gunmen killed at least 11 villagers and wounded many others in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Kaduna on Monday, said a local official.

The gunmen, suspected to be bandits, raided the village in large numbers, opening fire on residents of the Albasu village in the Igbabi Local Government Area of Kaduna, said Samuel Aruwan, a commissioner for Kaduna State Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs.

The gunmen also rustled flocks of cattle belonging to the locals, Aruwan said in a statement on Tuesday.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria’s Lagos state government asked the army to intervene to restore order amid anti-police brutality protests, but soldiers did not shoot civilians, the military said, an assertion an Amnesty International investigation disputed on Wednesday.

Nigeria has been on edge following one of its biggest social upheavals in 20 years. Demonstrations across the country turned violent on Oct. 20 when witnesses in Lagos said the military opened fire on peaceful protesters shortly after local authorities imposed a 24-hour curfew, drawing international condemnation.