Cross-border attacks increasing as conflict spills across frontiers

Boko Haram staged an overnight assault on a border town in Niger and a suicide bomber detonated explosives near a market in the same town a few hours later, witnesses said.

Nigeria’s electoral commission is to postpone presidential and legislative elections for six weeks to give a new multinational force time to secure north-eastern areas under the sway of Boko Haram, an official has said.

More than 100 Boko Haram fighters were killed by soldiers in Niger responding to attacks on two towns near the border with Nigeria, officials say.

Nigerian troops have repelled Islamic extremists who attacked from four fronts on Maiduguri, the biggest city in north-east Nigeria, with several civilians killed by aerial bombs, and grenades and mortar shells on the ground.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has claimed responsibility for the mass killings in the north-east Nigerian town of Baga and threatened more violence.

The French president has urged citizens not to travel to areas where they risk being kidnapped, as he greeted a man returning after being held hostage for three years by al-Qaida’s North Africa branch.

A Frenchman held for more than three years by al Qaeda’s North African branch was freed yesterday, days after two of the men implicated in his abduction were released.

French officials have dispatched a military unit to secure the site in restive northern Mali where an Air Algerie plane crashed with the loss of 116 people.

There are fears today that scattered separatist violence may hamper an eventual investigation into what is the third major international aviation disaster in a week.

The wreckage of the Air Algerie plane that went missing has been found about 31 miles from the border of Burkina Faso near the village of Boulikessi in Mali, a presidential aide said.

An army general in Burkina Faso who is involved in the search for the missing Air Algerie flight carrying 116 people, claims that a witness saw a plane coming down in Mali.

The Air Algerie flight that went missing over Mali has “probably crashed”, France’s foreign minister said.

An Algerian aviation official says the passenger plane missing over Northern Mali has crashed.

Libya says Niger has extradited Moammar Gaddafi’s son al-Saadi, who fled as his father’s regime crumbled in 2011 and was under house arrest in the desert West African nation ever since.

Four Frenchmen taken hostage by Islamic extremists three years ago in Niger have been released.

More than a dozen people have been injured in two car bomb attacks in Niger.

Mali secured the first victory in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations with an uninspiring 1-0 win over Niger in Port Elizabeth.

Islamist guerrillas are turning the vast Sahara into a new theatre of war against the West, writes Alex Diaz

A FIFA report into match-fixing in the weeks before the 2010 World Cup has found “compelling evidence” that one or more friendly games involving host South Africa were fixed ahead of the world’s showpiece tournament.

Newcastle were today still awaiting news of Papiss Cisse’s situation with Senegal threatening to demand he does not play against Swansea tomorrow.

Allies of French President Francois Hollande mobilised today in hopes of securing a crushing parliamentary majority for the Socialists that could bolster him in talks on how to save the embattled euro currency and revive Europe’s economic fortunes.

Libya has demanded Niger hand over one of Muammar Gaddafi’s sons who is under house arrest in the neighbouring African nation after he warned in a television interview that his homeland was facing a new uprising.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his third goal in as many games as co-hosts Gabon confirmed top spot in Group C with a 1-0 win over Tunisia in the Africa Nations Cup in Libreville last night.

Angola 0 Ivory Coast 2

Another thrilling day’s action at the Africa Cup of Nations culminated with Tunisia and co-hosts Gabon booking their places in the quarter-finals thanks to late winning goals.

Morocco 1 Tunisia 2

EGYPT, winners of the last three tournaments, will not be there when the African Cup of Nations begins in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in a fortnight. Neither will Cameroon, who won in 2000 and 2002.

MUAMMAR Gaddafi’s fugitive son Saif al-Islam and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi wish to hand themselves in to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, a senior Libyan military official with the National Transitional Council (NTC) said last night.

Ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s intelligence chief, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, has slipped into the desert nation of Niger and is hiding in the expanse of dunes at the Niger-Algeria border, a Niger presidential adviser said today.

Muammar Gaddafi’s son and one-time heir is now believed to be heading toward the West African nation of Niger, where his brother and dozens of Gaddafi regime members are already hiding.

A son of Muammar Gaddafi and three of his generals were trying to gain political asylum today in the poor, landlocked nation of Niger, after a 1,000 mile-plus drive across the vast desert that separates the two countries.

Muammar Gaddafi's playboy son, known for his love of fast cars, football and partying, slipped into Niger over the weekend and began making his way to the capital, a Niger government official said.

A convoy carrying ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son al-Saadi has crossed into neighbouring Niger, a spokesman for Niger’s government said.

A CONVOY carrying ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son al-Saadi, has crossed into neighbouring Niger — a spokesman for Niger’s government said yesterday.

Libya’s rebel administration wants Niger to stop providing refuge to senior figures of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, according to the country’s ambassador.

A MAJOR western defence firm was upgrading military equipment for an elite Libyan security brigade just before the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi began, documents show, revealing how the West tried to foster ties with Gaddafi during his final years in power.

A senior member of Muammar Gaddafi’s inner circle slipped into Niger along with three carloads of collaborators, an official said, but the toppled Libyan leader was not among them nor were any members of his immediate family.

LIBYAN army vehicles have crossed the desert frontier into Niger in what may be a dramatic, secretly negotiated bid by Muammar Gaddafi to seek refuge in a friendly African state.

Voting has begun in presidential and parliamentary elections in Niger meant to return the country to a civilian government after a military coup last February.

SECRETARY General Ban Ki-moon opened a summit yesterday with a plea to the assembled presidents, prime ministers and kings to use their power to meet UN goals to help the world’s poorest by 2015.

Niger is facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, with almost half the country’s population in desperate need of food and up to one in six children suffering from acute malnutrition, aid officials said today.

IN 2005, then president Mamdou Tandja scoffed at the very suggestion that there was widespread famine in Niger, even while international aid agencies like GOAL were fanning out across his country, delivering food and medical assistance to tens of thousands of starving men, women and children.

Niger's political opposition urged the West African country's new military junta today to hold elections as soon as possible and restore civilian rule after a coup ousted its dictatorial president.