[Regnum] In Niger, militants from the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM),
which has ties to Al-Qaeda (a terrorist organization banned in Russia), announced that they had taken two Russian citizens hostage. This was reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The publication noted that on August 2, the militants published a video in which two alleged Russian men claimed to have been kidnapped in Mbang, in southwestern Niger.
In the video, one of the hostages, named Yurit, is said to have identified himself as a geologist born in Russia but living in Ukraine. The other, named Greg, said he had arrived in the country a month ago to work for a Russian company.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on February 10, 2023, at least 10 servicemen were killed in an attack by militants in southwestern Niger, near the border with Mali. The incident occurred near the city of Banibangu. The militants ambushed
| …in Arabic Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM). Formed by the merger of Ansar Dine, the Macina Liberation Front, al-Mourabitoun and the Saharan branch of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, recent estimates of its size range from 2,000-6,000 turbans… |