World
About 200 dead in attacks in northwest Nigeria, residents say
An estimated 200 people or more have been killed in villages in the northwestern Nigerian state of Zamfara during deadly reprisal attacks by armed bandits following military air strikes on their hideouts this week, residents said on Saturday.
Residents gained access to the villages on Saturday after the military captured the communities to organise mass burials, they told Reuters. The state government said 58 people had been killed during the attacks, Reuters reported.
Ummaru Makeri, a resident who lost his wife and three children during the attack, said around 154 people had been buried including several vigilantes who were killed. Residents said the total death toll was at least 200.
Reuters reported on Friday that at least 30 people had been killed in the Anka local government area in Zamfara, when more than 300 armed bandits on motorbikes stormed eight villages and started shooting sporadically on Tuesday.
The military said it had conducted air strikes in the early hours of Monday on targets in the Gusami forest and west Tsamre village in Zamfara state, killing more than 100 bandits including two of their leaders, following intelligence reports.
One resident who declined to be identified told Reuters the attacks on the villages could be linked to the military strikes.
According to Reuters there have been a series of attacks in northwest Nigeria, which has seen a sharp rise in mass abductions and other violent crimes since late 2020 as the government struggles to maintain law and order.
In a separate incident, 30 students abducted from their college in the northwestern Nigerian state of Kebbi were freed on Saturday, a spokesman for the Kebbi governor said, without providing details.
President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement on Saturday the military had acquired more equipment to track down and eliminate criminal gangs that have been subjecting people to a reign of terror, including through the illegal imposition of taxes on communities under siege, read the report.
“The latest attacks on innocent people by the bandits is an act of desperation by mass murderers, now under relentless pressure from our military forces,” Buhari said.
Buhari added that the government would not relent in its military operations to get rid of the bandits.
World
Venezuela quakes leave over 4,300 dead and 16,740 injured
The official tally of injured remained unchanged at 16,740, while 6,462 people have been rescued and about 17,000 have been left homeless.
The death toll from the two earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24 has risen to 4,333, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez told reporters on Saturday, announcing that the distribution of housing to those affected will begin next week, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, 315 of the dead have not yet been identified, the official said.
The official tally of injured remained unchanged at 16,740, while 6,462 people have been rescued and about 17,000 have been left homeless.
Rodriguez said acting President Delcy Rodriguez will allocate the first 200 homes to those affected next week, but did not give any more details.
Rodriguez also said that 856 buildings were affected, of which 190 either collapsed completely or suffered structural collapse.
According to the government’s preliminary estimates, 25,000 homes are needed. Authorities have already identified around 40 plots of land, totaling about 584,000 square meters, for housing projects in Osma and Chuspa.
Rodriguez said search operations are continuing, saying, “As long as there is life, there is hope. We still have one or two sites where the situation remains uncertain, active sites where we are searching for survivors.”
World
Trump says missiles aimed at Iran if Tehran targets US president
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he had ordered the military to be prepared to launch strikes against Iran if the Iranian government carried out or attempted an assassination of the president.
“1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!,” he said in a Truth Social post, Reuters reported.
“Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran.”
World
Russia denounces NATO summit decisions on aid for Ukraine, defence
NATO members at the summit pledged €70 billion ($80 billion) in military assistance to Ukraine for 2026.
Russia denounced NATO’s decisions at a summit in Turkey on Wednesday, saying they could have catastrophic consequences, after the alliance announced military aid to Ukraine and reaffirmed members’ commitment to collective defence, Reuters reported.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said NATO’s priorities remained unchanged: “the militarisation of the European continent, the focus on building up defence capabilities, preparation for an armed conflict with Russia, and, of course, aid to Ukraine”.
“It is a pity, because if NATO strategists had stopped and thought for a moment, they might not have made such irresponsible decisions that could lead to a catastrophe not just for the alliance, but for the whole world,” Zakharova said in a statement on her ministry’s website.
NATO members at the summit pledged €70 billion ($80 billion) in military assistance to Ukraine for 2026.
They reaffirmed their “ironclad commitment” to collective defence under the alliance’s Article 5 pact in a summit declaration and unveiled arms deals worth at least $50 billion.
In her comments, Zakharova said “cracks” between the United States and its NATO partners “have not gone anywhere”.
“Against this backdrop, the Americans do not hide their disappointment with the North Atlantic bloc,” she wrote.
“The issue with Greenland is not being resolved according to the American scenario. There is also resentment that alliance members, as Washington sees it, did not act in a supportive way when the United States needed their backing.”
NATO Secretary Genera Mark Rutte, in an interview with Reuters, said disputes between U.S. President Donald Trump and other NATO leaders showed the alliance’s democratic strength and should serve as a lesson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, read the report.
“I would say to Putin: You should have some more discussions yourself, out in the open,” Rutte told Reuters.
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