Twin suicide bomb attacks by militants at an army barracks and a French-run uranium mine 100 miles apart kill up to 25 people.
According to reports, dozens of people were killed in the blasts, including 18 soldiers. The attackers are holding army recruits hostage at the Agadez base, the Niger’s authorities have released.
Niger’s Interior Minister Abdou Labo said that 13 persons were injured and that six of them suffered serious injuries. Defense Minister Mahamadou Karidjo described the attackers as "redskins", in a reference to members of the country's Tuareg and Arab groups. Some 30 minutes after the first blast, a suicide bomber blew up an explosives-laden four-by-four at the Somair uranium mine some 250 kilometers north of Agadez.
The attacks are believed to have been carried out by Islamic extremists based in neighbouring Mali but A member of the Niger government said responsibility for the attack had been claimed by the MUJWA militant group, an al Qaeda-linked West African militant group.
The attack on the barracks resulted in a fierce gun battle. Security forces returned the town to calm but one attacker was still holding soldiers hostage, officials said.
Another spokesman, Abdou Labo, said in a press conference: "We have 19 dead in Agadez, 18 soldiers and a civilian," adding that four suicide bombers were killed in the blast.
"A fifth bomber has locked himself up in an office with several trainee officers as hostages," he added.
Canadian authorities have arrested two men accused of planning to carry out an Al Qaeda-supported attack against a passenger train traveling between Canada and the United States.
“As I understand it, it was a train going from Canada to the U.S.,” Rep. Peter King, R-New York, chairman of the counterterrorism and intelligence subcommittee, said.
The news follows an announcement earlier in the day by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that they had arrested Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35.
The two men are charged with “receiving support from al Qaeda elements in Iran” to carry out an attack and conspiring to murder people on a VIA railway train in the greater Toronto area, Assistant Police Commissioner James Malizia said.
“When I speak about supported, I mean direction and guidance,” he said.
Despite the allegation of links to al Qaeda in Iran, there was no evidence to suggest the planned attacks were state-sponsored, Malizia said.
U.S. authorities say the plot involved detonating explosives on a train traveling from Toronto to Penn Station in New York.
Essenghaier, of Montreal, and Jaser, of Toronto, will make their first court appearance on Tuesday, police said.
“We are alleging these two individuals took steps and conducted activities to conduct a terrorist attack,” Jennifer Strachan of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told reporters.
“They watched trains and railways in the greater Toronto area.”
The alleged attack included a plan to derail a passenger train, she said.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation quoted “highly placed sources” as saying the suspects were under surveillance for more than a year.
The CBC reported that the investigation was “part of a cross-border operation involving Canadian law enforcement agencies, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”
Twitter suspended an account run by Somali extremists linked to Al Qaeda on Friday, two days after the militants threatened to execute Kenyan hostages and posted a video of one pleading for the Kenyan government to help free them.
In a string of Twitter messages, Shabab then demanded that Kenya unconditionally release Muslim prisoners held on terrorism charges and meet other conditions. Kenya had three weeks to respond “if the prisoners are to remain alive,” one of the tweets stated.
As of Friday, anyone trying to view the @HSMPress account was greeted by a message saying, “The profile you are trying to view has been suspended.”
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