attack

The death toll from a jihadist attack on the convoy of the regional governor of northeastern Nigeria has risen to 30, security sources said on Saturday. Two sources told AFP deaths from Friday's attack in the returning Borno state had doubled as more bodies were found and now included 12 police officers, five soldiers, four members of a government-backed militia and nine civilians. "The number has risen to 30 as many corpses were picked in the surrounding areas after the attack," said one of the sources, adding that…

Ivory Coast's head of state, Alassane Ouattara, has blown up two rivals' attempt to challenge next month's presidential election as "provocation", saying one of them is behind bars. In an interview published Thursday by the French magazine Paris Match, the 78-year-old sitting fired a verbal breadth against former President Laurent Gbagbo and former rebel leader Guillaume Soro. Both men live outside the country, but retain strong support at home, in a country still scarred by a post-election conflict that claimed more…