SITE Intelligence Group says the Mali branch of al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on French forces which officials said killed four civilians in the northern city of Gao.

The U.S.-based monitoring group said Monday the al-Qaeda-linked militants, known by the acronym JNIM, said the suicide attack, along with another Friday on the G5 Sahel headquarters, was a message to the “French and their African allies” referring to the African Union Summit in Mauritania which French President Emmanuel Macron is attending Monday.

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Islamist militants armed with rockets and explosives raided the headquarters of an African military taskforce in central Mali, leaving at least six people dead on Friday, a spokesman for the force said.

Assailants driving a vehicle rigged with bombs attacked the compound in the town of Sevare as some exchanged gunfire with Malian troops and fought to get in, officials said.

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Forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar said on Thursday they had taken full control of the eastern Libyan city of Derna from an armed coalition of local fighters and Islamists.

“Thanks be to God, the armed forces control the entire city of Derna,” said a statement on Facebook.

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South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and long-time rival Riek Machar on Tuesday signed ceasefire deal following talks in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

The two who lead the factions fighting in South Sudan met face-to-face last week in Addis Ababa for the first time since 2016.

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Heavy fighting broke out between Puntland army forces and Somaliand soldiers in Las Anod town.

The fighting flared up when Heavily armed forces belonging to Puntland State have launched fresh attack on police stations run by the break-away of Somaliland soldiers.

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At least 16 Fulani herders have been killed in suspected ethnic clashes in central Mali, the government and local sources said on Sunday, underscoring the chronic instability blighting the West African nation ahead of elections next month.

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Armed opposition group, Patriotic Ginbot7 (PG7) announced that it has unilaterally suspended all operations using firearms to show its support for the ongoing political changes undertaken by a reformist group within the ruling party, spearheaded by the new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

For the past many years, the Ethiopian people have engaged in a painstaking struggle to extricate themselves from brutal repression and to transition to a democratic order.

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