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At least 17 people were killed in a clash between suspected members of the Boko Haram sect and civilian vigilantes early Sunday in Nigeria’s restive Borno state, Xinhua reported.
Twelve vigilantes lost their lives in the attack while the civilian security guards killed five of the attackers, said residents in the Benisheik town in the Borno state.
Syrian rebels have taken control of the historic Christian town of Maalula, north of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog and residents said today.
“Overnight, Syrian regime troops moved into the village, but rebel forces sent reinforcements and were able to take control of the entire town,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The Egyptian army launched an attack against Islamist militants in North Sinai on Saturday, killing at least nine people, security officials said.
Two Egyptian soldiers were killed late on Saturday when an improvised explosive device detonated in a road in the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid near the border with the Gaza Strip, security sources said.
Somali officials say at least 18 people were killed and a dozen others wounded when a car full of explosives blew up outside a restaurant in Mogadishu. The Village restaurant is popular with government officials, workers and journalists.
The attack Saturday at The Village restaurant in central Mogadishu was the second time the business has been targeted in less than 12 months.
Militants in Pakistan’s most populous province are said to be training for what they expect will be an ethnic-based civil war in neighbouring Afghanistan after foreign forces withdraw in 16 months.
In the past two years, the number of Punjab-based militants deploying to regions bordering on Afghanistan has tripled and is now believed to be in the thousands, says analyst Mansur Mehsud.