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Tuareg separatists said on Saturday they were rejoining the peace process in northern Mali, just over a week after they pulled out and accused Bamako of not respecting the terms of a truce signed in June.
The three separatist groups, including the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, or MNLA, rebels, made the announcement after Malian authorities released 23 insurgents last week to comply with the terms of the ceasefire signed in Ouagadougou.
Somalia’s Islamist militia al-Shabaab said on Saturday that a dawn raid at its strongholds in the small town of Barawe in the south of the country was carried out by British and Turkish special forces.
The commander of the British force, it said, was killed during the attack and four other SAS operatives were critically wounded. One Turkish soldier was also wounded, according to a statement by Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab’s military operation spokesman.
Residents of Mahaday informed Shabelle radio station in Mogadishu that a heavy war between Alshabab fighters and government forces aided by AMISOM troops occurred today in the newly liberated district.
The fighting sparked when Alshabab fighters attacked troops who were at that time based in the area.
Insurgents launched a fresh attack on the Malian army in the rebel bastion of Kidal on Monday, the military said, in renewed fighting since the breakdown of peace talks.
The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which is fighting for autonomy in northern Mali, ambushed soldiers at a central bank, the scene of a fierce firefight on Sunday night, a senior Malian army officer said.
Boko Haram gunmen on Sunday opened fire in the hostel of the School of Agriculture, Gujba, Yobe State, killing at least 40 students while asleep.
It was the latest blood-chilling violence in Nigeria’s north east state of Yobe. Gujba is about 30kms from Yobe’s capital of Damaturu.
The three Tuareg groups in a joint statement on Thursday said they were suspending implementatin of the peace agreement signed with Mali’s government in the capital of neighboring Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, in June.
“Following multiple difficulties implementing the Ouagadougou agreement, mainly caused by non-observance by the Malian government of its commitments, [we have] decided to suspend participation in the structures of implementation of the agreement,” the statement said.
Kenya’s armed forces say the hostage standoff has nearly ended at the Westgate mall in Nairobi, where militants attacked shoppers with guns and grenades on Saturday, killing 68 people, including at least two Canadians.
“Most of the hostages have been released, and the Kenya Defence Forces has taken control of most parts of the building,” Kenyan military spokesman Colonel Cyrus Oguna told the television station KTN. He did say how many hostages had been held or freed.