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A militant group has however since February 2016 been making headlines through their capacity to destroy oil infrastructure. Their attacks have driven Nigeria’s oil output to near a 22-year low. Contrary to popular opinion, the group, Niger Delta Avengers, NDA for short, according to them is not just made up of Niger Deltans but has support from other parts of Nigeria, namely Northern, Western and Eastern part of the Country with the sole purpose of crippling the Nigerian Economy until their demands are met. According to reports, Diplomats and security experts say the group has shown a level of sophistication...

The absence of strong Western leadership against the Boko Haram terror state has created an opportunity Iran seems ready to exploit. The Premium Times of Nigeria reports that Iran is stepping forward to offer assistance to the African Union against the savage caliphate spilling out of northern Nigeria into Cameroon and menacing the entire region: ... Abdollohian said the activities of the Boko Haram militants and that of Al-Shabaab in the Somalia were similar to that of Al-Qaeda and the ISIS and other terrorist groups in the Middle East. ... Iran was willing to share its experiences on terrorist activities...

It hasn't made much noise worldwide, but Iran's rapidly deteriorating relationships with several African countries is huge news across the continent. On February 16, the Nigerian Federal High Court in Lagos began the prosecution of an alleged member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Azim Aghajani, and a Nigerian associate, Usman Abbas Jega. They are accused of arms smuggling. This video link is in Arabic, but is very self-explanatory. It is of the opening day of the court proceedings.The story is a classic, just one of many on the Dark Continent nowadays: In late October 2010, Nigerian intelligence officials...

Iran said on Monday an arms shipment sent from an Iranian port and discovered in Lagos was heading to a West African country and the "misunderstanding" had since been cleared up with the Nigerian authorities. "A private company which had sold conventional defence weapons to another country in West Africa had transferred the shipment via Nigeria which raised some doubts with relevant officials," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.

An illegal arms shipment including rockets and grenades discovered in Nigeria this week was loaded in Iran by an Iranian trader, the firm that operates the vessel that delivered it said on Friday. Security agents this week intercepted 13 containers declared as building materials and discharged from the CMA CGM Everest vessel at the country's busiest port of Apapa in Nigeria's economic hub of Lagos. "The shipment in question was booked as a 'shippers owned container' and supplied loaded and sealed by the shipper, an Iranian trader who does not appear on any 'forbidden persons' listing," said CMA CGM, which...

Nigeria's secret service said on Tuesday it had intercepted 13 containers of weapons from Iran in what Israeli defense sources believe may be part of a new smuggling route from Iran to Hamas in Gaza. Rocket launchers, grenades and other explosives camouflaged as building material were seized in the Nigerian port of Lagos after being unloaded from an Iranian ship. Nigerian media reports said the ship, which came from Iran, docked in Lagos port for a few hours only, unloaded 13 containers and sailed on.

OIL prices edged back toward record highs yesterday as the threat of war on Iran and the disruption of supplies from Nigeria kept international traders nervous. Nerves were frayed further when US energy giant ExxonMobil announced it had pulled out non-essential staff from the Nigeria's largest oil export terminal amid growing fears dissidents were liable to attack the site. Meanwhile, Iran has refused to rule out the use of oil as a weapon in the worsening stand-off over the Islamic republic's disputed nuclear quest. In New York yesterday the new main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, rose...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil climbed further on Tuesday as a militant threat to Nigerian oil exports and Iran's standoff with the West over its nuclear ambitions kept the market worried about supply disruptions. London Brent crude for March was up 27 cents to $63.45 a barrel by 0329 GMT, after rising 58 cents on Monday. U.S. light crude for February jumped 86 cents to $64.78 in catch-up gains after being closed for a national holiday on Monday. U.S. crude earlier touched $64.95 a barrel, its highest since October 4. Crude flows from Nigeria, the world's eighth-largest oil exporter, are being...

Crude futures rose Monday after another attack on an oil platform in Nigeria and Iran warned that any sanctions imposed over the country's nuclear program could send oil prices even higher. Brent crude for February delivery gained 77 cents to $63.03 a barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange, ahead of the contract's expiration Monday. Trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange was closed for the Martin Luther King Day holiday. Royal Dutch Shell PLC said it had evacuated over 300 staffers and contractors from facilities in the Niger Delta. Heavily armed attackers damaged the Benisede oil platform in the Niger...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Iranian diplomat is in Nigerian police custody on suspicion of spying on the Israeli embassy and other sensitive compounds in the capital Abuja, Israeli security sources said Monday. They said the Iranian was arrested on Jan. 23 when staff reported him "staking out" the embassy. Although he carried no credentials, police discovered he was a diplomat, they said. "A digital camera was found in his possession, with surveillance pictures of the embassy and several other international and local official buildings in the capital," a senior Israeli security source said. A Nigerian police spokesman said last Thursday...

... A month ago, the Iranian parliament voted in favour of a draft bill, entitled "Islamic Penal Code", which would codify the death penalty for any male Iranian who leaves his Islamic faith. Women would get life imprisonment. The majority in favour of the new law was overwhelming: 196 votes for, with just seven against. ...The new law is not yet in force in Iran: it requires another vote in parliament, and then the signature of the Ayatollah. But that could happen within a matter of weeks. "Or," says Papadouris, "it could conceivably be allowed to drop, were there a...

Islamic gunmen shouting "Allahu Akbar" attacked an upscale cafe in the Bangladeshi capital, killing 20 people inside, before police stormed the building on Saturday and rescued 13 hostages, officials said. The attack, claimed by Islamic State, marks a major escalation in a campaign by Islamic militants over the past 18 months that had targeted mostly individuals advocating a secular or liberal approach in mostly Muslim Bangladesh. Six gunmen were killed during the police operation and one was captured, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in a TV broadcast. "Most of (the hostages) were killed mercilessly by sharp weapons last night," before...

Islamic Jihadists connected to ISIS have slaughtered 20 Foreigners taken hostage at a bakery in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Security Forces from Bangladesh stormed the Bakery, killing all but one of the terrorists. But the 20 Foreigners, apparently mostly Italian and Japanese, were found dead, their throats slit. Reports indicate 13 hostages were “rescued,” but other reports indicate the Islamic Terrorists may have spared those 13 hostages because they could recite verses from the Koran, while those killed could not. The Bangladeshi English Newspaper “The Daily Star” reports that fact, as told by the father of one of the hostages . ....

DEVELOPING: Commandos backed by armored vehicles stormed a upscale restaurant in the Bangladesh's capital diplomatic zone early Saturday, hoping to free dozens of hostages held by Islamist militants following an hours-long standoff. Approximately two hours after the operation began, the sound of two big explosions were heard inside the Dhaka restaurant and a police official told the Associated Press that five bodies were seen lying in pools of blood. In Tokyo, Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda, citing Dhaka police, said 12 people had been rescued, including two foreigners.

For more than two years, a spate of brutal murders has rocked the South Asian nation. At first the killings had a clear pattern, targeting well-known secular writers in the capital, Dhaka. The attacks seemed designed to silence those who dared to criticize Islam. One of the most high-profile of these -- the murder of the Bangladeshi-American writer Avijit Royin 2014 -- took place right outside Dhaka's annual book fair. Then in April this year, a well-known LGBT activist and his friend were murdered while they were at home.In recent weeks these attacks extended into the countryside, increased in frequency,...

Hundreds of troops are storming a café in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, where gunmen took at least 20 hostages on Friday, security officials say. "Intense gunfighting (is) on," Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, of the Rapid Action Battalion force told Reuters. Explosions were also heard in the area. Reports say several of those held are Italian, and some may be Japanese. The fate of the hostages is unknown. The militant group Islamic State (IS) had said it carried out the attack.......

Up to nine attackers shouting "Allahu Akbar" stormed a popular restaurant in Dacca, Bangladesh Friday, taking hostages and setting off bombs in a siege claimed by ISIS. The Islamic State's Amaq News Agency said the attack on the restaurant was carried out by "Islamic State commandos," according to the SITE Intelligence Group which monitors jihadist activity.

ISIS claimed responsibility for a Bangladesh cafe attack today while hostages were still inside with gunmen."Islamic State commandos attack a restaurant frequented by foreigners in the city of Dhaka in Bangladesh," reported the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency, which issued the first claim for the Orlando nightclub shooting.They likely wanted to get a claim out quickly because they're competing with another terror group in Bangladesh: al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.AQIS had not made any mention of the attack on their Twitter account or WordPress blog. They did reissue their hit-list guidelines on Wednesday, hinting at an upcoming attack.Both AQIS and ISIS...

Several police officials have been wounded in the apparent terrorist attack, at least 20 civilians, mostly foreigners, held hostage inside the restaurant, according to witness accounts -

In a nine-word per curiam decision, eight justices of the United States Supreme Court have revealed they are deadlocked in a 4 to 4 divide on the new immigration procedures of the Obama administration, with its executive decision to not deport the immigrant parents of children born in the United States (thus citizens) and give them legal status but less than citizenship in the process. The State of Texas, joined by 25 others states, filed a lawsuit to block this executive action, which affects between 4 and 5 million immigrants in the United States. The case was before the Supreme...