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Boko Haram Attack Kills Seven in NE Nigeria Village

Boko Haram extremists on Monday raided a village in restive northeast Nigeria's Borno state near the border with Niger, killing seven people, community leaders told AFP.

Dozens of gunmen stormed Awonori, a farming and herding village near the fishing town of Damasak, and carted away food supplies and livestock, they said.

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Suspected al-Asir Supporters Arrested in Sidon

General Security officers arrested on Monday a supporter of Ahmed al-Asir during a raid in the southern city of Sidon.

The state-run National News Agency said H.R. was apprehended by the Information Branch of the General Security during an early morning raid on an electronics shop.

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Nigeria Recovers Black Boxes of Crashed Helicopter

Nigeria has recovered the black boxes of an helicopter that crashed into a lagoon in the economic capital Lagos, killing six, including the American pilot, a spokesman for its air accident investigation agency said Saturday. 

"We have recovered the flight recorders, known as the black boxes of the ill-fated helicopter. The black boxes will assist us to unravel the cause of the accident," Tunji Oketunbi of the Accident Investigation Bureau told Agence France Presse. 

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Boko Haram Kill 10 in Cameroon Raid

Boko Haram Islamists killed 10 people, including two soldiers, and torched several homes during a raid in northern Cameroon, security sources said Thursday.

Wednesday's attack in the town of Blame, near the Nigerian border, led to the deaths "of two soldiers from BIR (an elite army unit) and eight civilians," a security source said. 

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Nigeria President Gives Army 3 Months to End Boko Haram Attacks

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari swore in a new set of military chiefs on Thursday, ordering them to end Boko Haram's bloody six-year Islamist insurgency within three months. 

The jihadist militia, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, has waged a violent campaign for a separate Islamic homeland in the northeast which has seen more than 15,000 deaths since 2009.

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4 Killed as Helicopter Crashes into Nigeria Lagoon

At least four people were killed and six wounded when a helicopter returning from an oil rig plunged into a lagoon in Nigeria's commercial hub Lagos Wednesday.

The Sikorsky helicopter, operated by the U.S.-based Bristow Group, came down behind a police station in the Oworonshoki area in the city's north, according to the National Emergency Management Agency. Two people were still missing.

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Villagers Describe Horror of NE Nigeria Market Bombing

Nigerian villagers on Wednesday described the carnage unleashed by a huge market bomb explosion in jihadist group Boko Haram's northeastern heartland as the death toll rose to 50.

The bomb -- concealed in a crop-spraying backpack -- ripped through the weekly market in the village of Sabon Gari, around 135 kilometers (85 miles) south of Borno state capital Maiduguri, during peak trading on Tuesday.

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Boko Haram Has Been 'Decapitated', Says Chadian Leader

Chad's President Idriss Deby declared Tuesday that efforts to combat neighboring Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadists had succeeded in "decapitating" the group and would be wrapped up "by the end of the year".

Addressing reporters in the capital N'Djamena on the 55th anniversary of Chad's independence from France, Deby said: "Boko Haram is decapitated. There are little groups (of Boko Haram members) scattered throughout east Nigeria, on the border with Cameroon. It is within our power to definitively overcome Boko Haram."

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47 Dead, 50 Hurt in Market Bomb Blast in NE Nigeria

At least 47 people were killed and dozens wounded in a bomb blast Tuesday in a part of northeast Nigeria frequently targeted by Boko Haram Islamists, a medical source and witnesses said.

The explosion ripped through the weekly market in the village of Sabon Gari, around 135 kilometers (85 miles) south of Borno state capital Maiduguri, during peak trading around 1:15 pm (1230 GMT), the sources said.

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U.N. Security Council Pushes Talks to Defuse Burundi Crisis

The U.N. Security Council on Monday demanded that Burundi's government immediately reopen talks with the opposition to put a halt to a spiral of violence that is pushing the country to the brink.

The 15-member council backed plans by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to send a high-level U.N. official on an urgent mission to ease the Burundi crisis.

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