NEWS OF THE DAY
1 Militants attack: Jihadists attacked three villages in western Niger, near its border with Mali, killing at least 20 people, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The gunmen staged the attacks Saturday in the Anzourou area, shooting at residents, robbing stores and taking food and cattle, the ministry said. After the attacks they withdrew toward Mali. Extremism has grown in West Africa’s Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert, with attacks increasing near the borders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, where many jihadists linked to al Qaeda or the Islamic State groups operate.
2 Refugee crisis: A group of 16 unaccompanied asylumseeking children and 34 adults left Greece on Monday on a flight to the United Kingdom, where they will be reunited with family members. The move is part of a program to relocate about 1,600 unaccompanied refugee children to European countries. So far, Luxembourg has taken 12 children and Germany nearly 50, while Finland is to take about 100 later this month. Government spokesman Stelios Petsas said Monday that another 22 people are to be relocated to Switzerland. Tens of thousands of refugees and migrants, including thousands of unaccompanied children, are living in squalid conditions in overcrowded camps on several Greek islands.
3 Mideast tensions: The Israeli military on Monday said its forces demolished the home of a Palestinian accused of being behind a deadly blast in the West Bank last year. Israel says Qassem Barghouti carried out the attack in August that killed 17yearold Israeli Rina Shnerb and wounded her father and brother as they were hiking near the settlement of Dolev. The military said that as it was carrying out the demolition in the village of Kobar, near Ramallah, dozens of Palestinians burned tires and hurled rocks and firebombs toward Israeli troops. It said the crowd was dispersed. Witnesses said several Palestinians were injured. Israel says demolishing the family homes of alleged militants deters violence. Critics say the tactic amounts to collective punishment.
4 Taliban violence: The Taliban attacked an Afghan army checkpoint in eastern Laghman province, killing six soldiers and wounding five others, the government said Monday. The insurgents claimed responsibility for the assault, which took place Sunday, just days after the U.S. special envoy in talks with the Taliban in Qatar emphasized the need for a reduction in violence. The statement from the Afghan Defense Ministry said the troops pushed back the attackers, adding that the Taliban also suffered casualties. On Monday, four bombs, one placed under a garbage bin and the three others by the roadside, went off in northern Kabul, wounding four civilians, including a child, Afghan officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings and their targets remained unknown.
5 Plane crash: A plane carrying humanitarian supplies that crashed in Somalia last week may have been shot down by Ethiopian troops, according to a report from the office of the African Union Force commander in Somalia. The report, which was leaked on Twitter, said Ethiopian troops not affiliated with the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia brought down the Kenyanregistered plane out of fear that it was about to carry out a “suicide” attack. The cargo flight plunged to the ground May 4 in the town of Bardale, in southwestern Somalia, killing all six people aboard. The plane had approached the airfield in Bardale from the west instead of the east, which is more common. The aircraft was carrying supplies to assist in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Chronicle News Services