Tuesday, January 2, 2018
More than 700 people abducted by the armed group Boko Haram in Nigeria have escaped from captivity, according to a spokesman for the army.
The captives included farmers, fishermen and members of their families, Colonel Timothy Antigha said in a statement on Facebook on Monday.
Boko Haram had kept the villagers as “farm workers” on various islands in Lake Chad, he said, adding that the escapees were found by Nigerian troops near the northeastern town of Monguno, close to Nigeria’s border with Chad.
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Monday, January 1, 2018
Hundreds of people in north-east Central African Republic have fled their villages following fresh violence between armed groups, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Sunday.
Villagers fled gunfire and machete attacks to arrive in the small town of Paoua, where some 11 000 people have already sought refuge since fighting erupted in the region in November.
“There are clashes at almost every point all around Paoua. We have seen hundreds of people flee their villages to take refuge in Paoua” since Wednesday, said Jean Hospital, MSF’s project coordinator in the region.
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Five Indian soldiers and three suspected militants were killed Sunday after rebels stormed a paramilitary camp in disputed Kashmir, triggering a daylong battle, officials said.
Separately, Indian and Pakistani soldiers traded gunfire along the highly militarized line dividing Kashmir between the two rivals, killing an Indian soldier, India’s army said.
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