Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pledged on Friday to conduct mass deportations of Haitian immigrants from the Ohio city of Springfield, even though the majority of them are in the United States legally.

The city for days has found itself at the center of a social media maelstrom after right-wing agitators latched onto false claims that Haitian arrivals were eating household pets, Reuters reported.

"We will do large deportations in Springfield, Ohio," Trump said at a press conference at his golf resort near Los Angeles.

The majority of the 15,000 Haitians in Springfield are there legally. Trump's longstanding pledge to conduct mass deportations usually refers to those in the country illegally.

Trump did not repeat the assertion he made during Tuesday's presidential debate with Democrat Kamala Harris that immigrants were eating dogs and cats, remarks that have been widely mocked.

Two elementary schools were evacuated and one middle school in Springfield was closed on Friday after anonymous bomb threats were made against the community for the second day in a row, according to ABC News.

At the White House, President Joe Biden urged the attacks on the Haitian community to cease.

"It's simply wrong. There's no place in America. This has to stop - what he's doing. It has to stop," Biden said.

The Biden administration extended Temporary Protected Status to hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the United States in June, a decades-old program that protects legal immigrants from deportation and gives them work permits.

Gang wars in Haiti have displaced over half a million people and nearly five million are facing severe food insecurity.

Trump has cited the tensions in Springfield as another example of the need for hardline immigration policies. The influx of Haitians has boosted the economy but also has strained social services.

"I'm angry about illegal Haitian migrants taking over Springfield, Ohio. You see that mess, don't you?" Trump said at a rally in Las Vegas, later on Friday.
"I'm angry about young American girls being raped and murdered by savage criminal aliens that come into our country very easily, but very illegally," he added later in his speech.

Haitian community leaders across the United States said the Republican candidate's remarks could put lives at risk and further inflame tensions in Springfield.

"We need help, not hate," Springfield's mayor Rob Rue told ABC News.

City officials say they have received no credible reports of anybody eating household animals. Karen Graves, a city spokesperson, said she was not aware of recent hate crimes targeting Haitian residents but that some had been victims of "crimes of opportunity," such as property theft.

At least 64 people were feared dead following a boat accident on a river in Zamfara State in northwest Nigeria, local officials said on Saturday.

A wooden boat carrying 70 farmers capsized as it was transporting them across the river to reach their farmlands close to Gummi town on Saturday morning. Local authorities swiftly mobilised residents for a rescue operation, and after three hours, six survivors were pulled from the water.

"This is the second time such an incident has occurred in the Gummi Local Government Area," said Aminu Nuhu Falale, a local administrator who led the rescue efforts.

He added that emergency teams were intensifying their search in the hope of finding more survivors.

More than 900 farmers rely on crossing the river daily to access their farmlands, but only two boats are available, often leading to overcrowding, said the local traditional ruler.

Zamfara State, already plagued by criminal gangs seeking control of mineral resources, has also been severely affected by flooding caused by heavy rains. Two weeks ago, floods displaced more than 10,000 residents, local officials said.

Comoros President Azali Assoumani was slightly injured in a knife attack on Friday, the archipelago nation's government spokesperson said, adding that the attacker has been taken into custody.

The incident occurred around 2 p.m. (1100 GMT) in Salimani Itsandra, a town just north of the capital Moroni, Reuters reported citing a local source.

"President Azali Assoumani was slightly injured with a knife during the funeral of a great sheikh of the country. His injuries are not serious and he has returned home," government spokesperson Fatima Ahamada told Reuters.

The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

The source from the town of Salimani Itsandra added that the attacker is a former policeman in his 20s.

In May, Assoumani was sworn in for a fourth term in office following a tense January election which his opponents claim was tainted by voter fraud.