At least 42 dead in Nigeria extremist attacks, authorities say

Published May 07, 2013

Associated Press

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria –  Authorities in northeast Nigeria say at least 42 people have been killed in a coordinated attacks by Islamic extremists that also allowed 105 prisoners to escape.

The violence occurred Tuesday in multiple locations in Bama, a town repeatedly hit by fighters in Nigeria's Borno state. Authorities say extremists used multiple heavy machine guns and "anti-aircraft" weapons.

Lt. Col. Sagir Musa told The Associated Press that two soldiers died in one attack, as did 14 Nigerian prison guards when the militants raided a federal prison there. Musa said 105 inmates escaped during the assault.

Bama police commander Alhaji Sagiru said 22 police officers also died in the attacks, as did three children and a woman.

The fighting comes amid increasingly bloody guerrilla attacks by Islamic extremists in northern Nigeria.

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Head of Libyan Islamic extremist militia shot

Published April 14, 2013

Associated Press

TRIPOLI, Libya –  A security official says the leader of an Islamic extremist militia in Libya suspected of involvement in an attack in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador has been shot.

Sufyan bin Qumu, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, was shot Sunday in the area of al-Thruwn in the eastern city of Darna, a stronghold of Islamic extremists.

The security official says he was taken to a nearby hospital and is in the intensive care unit. He spoke anonymously in line with regulations.

Residents of eastern Libya, where the September attack against the U.S. consulate took place, have been standing up to Ansar al-Shariah. Protesters stormed the group's compound in Benghazi days after the attack.

No suspects have been named in the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

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East African man linked to extremist group sentenced in New York to 9 years jail

Published March 27, 2013

Associated Press

NEW YORK –  An East African man has been sentenced in New York to just over nine years in prison for conspiring to support terrorism by associating with a violent extremist group in Somalia.

Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to nine years and three months in prison. He had pleaded guilty in June.

Ahmed was detained in Nigeria in 2009 before being turned over to U.S. authorities. Prosecutors in New York had accused the Eritrean man of receiving explosives training, buying an assault rifle and raising money for al-Shabaab.

Al-Shabaab was designated by the United States as a terrorist group in 2008. Manhattan's top federal prosecutor said in a release that Ahmed traveled thousands of miles to align himself with al-Shabaab and aid their campaign of terror.

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