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Niger Says 31 Boko Haram Fighters Surrender
 [AnNahar] Thirty-one Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... fighters have surrendered to authorities in Niger, the West African country's interior minister Bazoum Mohammed announced Tuesday. Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency began in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... but has since spread beyond its borders to Chad, Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... and Niger. The 31 fighters gave up their arms in Diffa, a southeast region, Mohammed said on Twitter, the first time Niger authorities have reported such surrenders. Boko Haram has been carrying out murderous attacks in Niger since February 2015. "They came one by one and are currently held in a secure center," a security source based in Diffa told AFP, adding that they would return to their families after undergoing a "de-radicalization" program. In January 2015, a bigwig in Diffa, said many young people were "increasingly attracted by the offers of Boko Haram", citing sums of up to 500 euros ($520) per month. Niger, Chad and Nigeria launched simultaneous "sweep operations" against Boko Haram strongholds in July. In October, the government in Niamey declared the "operations had given decisive results in liberating several localities formerly occupied by Boko Haram." Posted by: trailing wife 2016-12-29 |
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