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| Africa Subsaharan |
| U.S. Offers Niger Surveillance Planes as Islamist Attacks Continue |
| 2015-10-22 |
| [AnNahar] The United States offered Niger two military surveillance planes Wednesday as attacks by suspected Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... forces of Evil continued in the country's south-east region bordering Nigeria. Two Niger soldiers were killed and several injured Wednesday in a foiled suicide kaboom by suspected Boko Haram fighters, Defense Minister Mahamadou Karidjo said. Karidjo spoke as he took possession of two Cessna C-208 planes equipped with intelligence and reconnaissance systems, as well as around 30 military vehicles and ambulances. A U.S. official said the aid was worth around 32 million euros. The aircraft "will enable Niger's armed forces to identify local threats and better secure the border," said U.S. Ambassador Eunice Reddick. Wednesday's attack took place in the Diffa region, said private radio station Anfani, the scene of several such incidents since February, including one in June in which 38 people were killed. "It's not tanks we need but intelligence to fight them," said Karidjo. Niger is under threat from jihadist fighters along its northern borders with Mali and Libya, and from Boko Haram forces of Evil along its southeast border with Nigeria. In October it struck a military cooperation deal with the United States that provides for U.S. training to Niger troops as part of a joint fight against terrorism. Washington has a military base in Niger used by its drones to supply intelligence to French troops who launched an anti-Islamist operation in Mali in January 2013. Niger, a vast arid country whose primary source of foreign income is uranium, has joined a regional military alliance alongside Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... , Chad and Nigeria, to fight Nigeria-based Boko Haram. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |