40 Nigerian male students killed after suspected Boko Haram militants storms College

Suspected Islamist militants stormed a college in northeastern Nigeria and shot dead around 40 male students, some of them while they slept early on Sunday, witnesses said.

The gunmen, thought to be members of rebel sect Boko Haram, attacked one hostel, took some students outside before killing them and shot others trying to flee, people at the scene told Reuters

"They started gathering students into groups outside, then they opened fire and killed one group and then moved onto the next group and killed them. It was so terrible," said one surviving student Idris, who would only give his first name.

"They came with guns around 1 am (2400 GMT) and went directly to the male hostel and opened fire on them ... The college is in the bush so the other students were running around helplessly as guns went off and some of them were shot down," said Ahmed Gujunba, a taxi driver who lives by the college.

Boko Haram, which wants to establish an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has intensified attacks on civilians in recent weeks in revenge for a military offensive against its insurgency.

Several schools, seen as the focus of Western-style education and culture, have been targeted.

Boko Haram and spin-off Islamist groups like the al Qaeda-linked Ansaru have become the biggest security threat in Africa's second largest economy and top oil exporter.

 Western governments are increasingly worried about the threat posed by Islamist groups across Africa, from

 

 Mali and Algeria in the Sahara, to Kenya in the east, where Somalia's al-Shabaab fighters killed at least 67 people in an attack on a Nairobi shopping mall a week ago.

Bodies were recovered from dormitories, classrooms and outside in the undergrowth on Sunday, a member of staff at the college told Reuters, asking not to be named.

A Reuters witness counted 40 bloody corpses piled on the floor at the main hospital in Yobe state capital Damaturu on Sunday, mostly of young men believed to be students.

The bodies were brought from the college, which is in Gujba, a rural area 30 miles (50km) south of Damaturu and around 130 miles from Nigerian borders with Cameroon and Niger.

State police commissioner Sanusi Rufai said he suspected Boko Haram was behind the attack but gave no details.

 

Revenge attacks

Thousands have been killed since Boko Haram launched its uprising in 2009, turning itself from a clerical movement opposed to Western culture into an armed militia with growing links to al Qaeda's West African wing.

President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three northeastern state in May, including Yobe, and ordered a military offensive to crush Boko Haram's insurgency.

There was an initial lull in the violence as Islamists fled bases in cities, forests and mountains. Then the militants began revenge attacks on schools, security forces and civilians believed to be helping them.

In July, suspected Boko Haram militants killed 27 students and a teacher at a school in Potiskum, a town about 30 miles from the site of Sunday's attack.

Several hundred people have died in assaults over the past few weeks. Some observers say the army offensive has only succeeded in pushing attacks away from well-guarded large towns and cities into vulnerable rural areas.

Boko Haram's insurgency is also putting pressure on the economy of Africa's most populous nation. Nigeria's security spending has risen to more than 1 trillion naira ($6.26 billion) per year, or around 20 percent of the federal budget. ($1 = 159.8 Nigerian naira)

 

Eyewitnesses accuse police of complacency (+playlist)

Man Found Dead In House Full Of Snakes

Police looking for a missing man were shocked to find him dead in his home — surrounded by over forty giant snakes.

Many of the reptiles, including a 30ft anaconda and four 35ft pythons, were slithering free around the decomposing
body when police entered snake fan Heiko Rieder's apartment in Straubing, Germany.

A fire service spokesman said: "At least one was as thick as a human thigh."

Worried colleagues alerted police after the 40-year-old caretaker failed to turn up to work for a week.

It is thought he died from a heart attack while feeding his pets.

Experts believe he was only saved from being eaten as he was too WIDE to be swallowed whole.

Reptile centre boss Markus Baur, now caring for the snakes, said: "They probably didn't eat him for two reasons. One, they prefer their prey alive to start with.

"And two, they like to eat their prey whole and the average European adult is just too long and wide for that."

In total, 46 snakes, some in tanks, were recovered from the property.

A police spokesman said: "His body decomposed rapidly because of the heat coming from the snakes' terrariums. There don't appear to be any suspicious circumstances."

The south china morning post this week reported of the nuptials between china and Kenya. The two countries “exchanged vows of friendship and spoke of widening economic and political co-operation”. Agreements worth sh425 billion signed with china on Monday. Certainly there is value in Kenya expanding her traditional friendships and seeking to create new ones. But advice from us President Barack Obama offered on his Africa tour in June is worth remembering. He said: make sure it’s a good deal for Africa’ in reference to foreign interests here. Tonight on checkpoint we are asking is china offering Kenya a good deal. Joining us now to discuss the eastern dragon is strategist Moses Kuria just back from Beijing and our in house political analyst prof Edward Kisiangani.

THE FORCE CONTRIBUTION HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THIS??? IN THE WORLD??? JUST BECOUSE THE PRESIDENT RELATIVE IN DEAD

FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTRY FORCES KENYAN DIPLOMATIC STAFF TO CONTRIBUTE TO UHURU'S NEPHEW FUNERAL. THOSE WHO DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO BE RECALLED OR TO FACE IMMEDIATE SACK!! YES WE ARE ONEndering!!

INSTEAD OF THE JUBILEE GOVT CRITISIZING THE US GOVT FOR ISSUING TRAVEL ADVISORY TO THEIR CITIZENS WHO WOULD LIKE TO TRAVEL TO KENYA, WHY DON'T THEY DO THE SAME AND ISSUE A TRAVEL ADVISORY TO KENYANS WHO WOULD LIKE TO TRAVEL TO THE US. THEY SAID THEY DO NOT NEED THE WEST AND ESPECIALLY THE US AND THAT THEY NEED ONLY CHINA AND RUSSIA. SO WHAT IS THEIR PROBLEM NOW?

Kenya Saturday criticized Washington for issuing its latest travel advisory in the wake of last weekend’s terror attack at the Westgate shopping mall.

A statement from State House said the country had ‘noted with concern’ the re-issuing by the US government of the advisory terming the move ‘unnecessary and uncalled for.’

This is despite pleas by President Kenyatta and former Prime Minister to western countries to reconsider the move.

“We wish to unequivocally condemn the re-issuing of the travel advisory, and reject it as unnecessary and uncalled for,” read the Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

“Terrorism, such as in the attack on Westgate Mall, is a global problem. The United States itself, has suffered terror attacks before, and so have other countries right across the globe,” it went on.

“We have made these points clear to the United States government through the usual diplomatic channels. Issuing travel advisories, such as this one, are not what we expect of our friends with whom we have enjoyed cordial diplomatic relations for a long time.”

The government said it expected support from friends of the country, which it called on the US government to withdraw the advisory.

Thursday, the US government warned its citizens considering travel to Kenya to evaluate their personal security in light of continuing and recently heightened threats from terrorism and the high rate of violent crime in some areas.

“In light of the recent attack on a Nairobi shopping mall, the U.S. Department of State has reissued its Travel Warning of July 5, 2013, which warns U.S. citizens of the risks of travel to Kenya,” they warned.

The siege at the mall by suspected members of the Al Shabaab terrorist organisation left at least 67 people dead and scores others injured. At least five US citizens were injured in the attack.

The State Department said it continues to receive information about potential threats aimed at the interests of Western countries in Kenya including those in Nairobi and Mombasa.

Read the advisory; “Although these restrictions do not apply to travellers not associated with the U.S. government, U.S. citizens in Kenya should take these restrictions into account when planning travel. The Embassy regularly reviews the security of these areas for possible modification.”

“There are no restrictions on U.S. embassy employee travel to Kenya's most popular tourist destinations such as Masai Mara, Amboseli, Lake Nakuru, Tsavo, Lamu Island, Hell's Gate, Samburu, Mount Kenya, Malindi, and Nairobi,” it added.

The UK’s Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) has also advised its citizens against all but essential travel within 60km of the Kenya-Somali border