Fresh violence has erupted in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State as armed men launched a deadly overnight attack on Ding’ak community in Mushere Chiefdom, leaving at least two people dead, churches and homes burnt, and food supplies looted.
The assault, which began around midnight and lasted until about 4:30 a.m., reportedly saw the attackers wielding sophisticated weapons that overpowered local vigilantes.
The Chairman of the Bokkos Cultural Development Forum (BCDF), Farmasum Fudang, told our correspondent in a phone interview that the victims include two officials with the Church Of Christ In Nations (COCIN).
READ ALSO: Two Killed As Gunmen Attack Military Checkpoint In Ebonyi
Fudang also said two COCIN churches and several homes were set ablaze. Maize farms were destroyed, while livestock, including cows, goats, sheep, chickens, and ducks, were stolen alongside stored food.
“They came through the usual route between Ding’ak and Kopmur,” Fudang said, lamenting that a security checkpoint is located less than a kilometre away from the scene. “Soldiers fired shots into the air but did not engage the attackers,” he alleged.
The BCDF chairman described the incident as part of a sustained wave of terror in Mushere land, noting that it came just two days after a similar attack in the Ndimar community. He called on both the federal and Plateau State governments to urgently intervene and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Chad’s former prime minister and opposition leader Succes Masra has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for disseminating racist and xenophobic messages that incited violence.
Defence lawyer Kadjilembay Francis told reporters following Saturday’s ruling at a court in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, that Masra would appeal his sentence.
“He has just been subjected to ignominy and unworthy humiliation,” Francis said.
Masra, who was prime minister between January and May last year, is the head of the Transformers party and a sharp critic of Mahamat Deby, Chad’s current president.
He was accused alongside 67 co-defendants, mostly from the same Ngambaye ethnic group, of causing a clash between herders and farmers in May in Logone Occidental, in the southwest of the central African country. The fighting left 35 people dead and six others injured.
Masra has denied the charges against him, which include hate speech, xenophobia and having incited a massacre.
Before leaving the courtroom on Saturday, he gave a message to his supporters: “Stand firm.” Activists with his party said they would put out a “special message” later in the day.
The Ngambaye ethnic group enjoys wide popularity among the predominantly Christian and animist populations of the south, whose members feel marginalised by the largely Muslim-dominated authorities in N’Djamena.
Masra left Chad after a bloody crackdown on his followers in 2022, only returning under an amnesty agreed in 2024.
He faced off against Deby in that year’s presidential election, which Deby won with more than 61 percent support.
But Masra did not accept the results, claiming that the vote was rigged. He later agreed to serve as premier after signing a reconciliation deal with Deby.
Masra has strongly opposed the military rulers who came to power in Chad in April 2021, after the death of Deby’s father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had led the country for 30 years.
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has called out Uefa over a tribute to Palestinian footballer Suleiman al-Obeid it posted on social media which failed to refer to the circumstances surrounding his death.
On Thursday, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said Obeid was killed in an Israeli attack while waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip the previous day.
The 41-year-old, who was known as the “Pele of Palestinian football” according to the PFA, scored more than 100 goals during his career, including two in 24 international matches.
In a post on X on Friday, Uefa said: “Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the ‘Palestinian Pele’.
“A talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times.”
On Saturday, Egypt international Salah, 33, responded with: “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?”
BBC Sport has contacted Uefa for comment.
Israel began its military offensive in Gaza after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Since then, more than 61,300 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli military operations.
At least 38 people have also been killed and 491 injured as a result of Israeli military activity over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry said on Saturday.
The UN reported earlier this month that 1,373 Palestinians have been killed seeking food since late May, when a new US and Israeli-backed organisation Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) set up aid distribution sites.
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has called out Uefa over a tribute to Palestinian footballer Suleiman al-Obeid it posted on social media which failed to refer to the circumstances surrounding his death.
On Thursday, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said Obeid was killed in an Israeli attack while waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip the previous day.
The 41-year-old, who was known as the “Pele of Palestinian football” according to the PFA, scored more than 100 goals during his career, including two in 24 international matches.
In a post on X on Friday, Uefa said: “Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the ‘Palestinian Pele’.
“A talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times.”
On Saturday, Egypt international Salah, 33, responded with: “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?”
BBC Sport has contacted Uefa for comment.
Israel began its military offensive in Gaza after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Since then, more than 61,300 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli military operations.
At least 38 people have also been killed and 491 injured as a result of Israeli military activity over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry said on Saturday.
The UN reported earlier this month that 1,373 Palestinians have been killed seeking food since late May, when a new US and Israeli-backed organisation Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) set up aid distribution sites.
The DJ pulled out of Boardmasters Festival due to the organisation reportedly stopping acts from making any political statements
DJ The Blessed Madonna pulls out of Boardmasters after censorship claims(Image: theblessedmadonna/Instagram)
Famous DJ The Blessed Madonna revealed they pulled out of Boardmasters Festival due to the organisation reportedly stopping acts from making any political statements. A few acts, including The Menstrual Cramps, DJ and producer Conducta, and surf brand Yonder, already boycotted the festival following claims the festival’s proprietors have ties to Israel.
The American DJ, real name Marea Renee Stamper, took to her Instagram page to share that her team received a notice from the festival at 4 in the morning saying she would be ‘subject to a show-stop procedural agreement related to certain political messaging and would be required to to keep political or symbolic elements of my set within the guidances of the festival and government prior to the show.’
In the caption, she wrote: “Any political statements, chants, or gestures will be observed, but the show will only be stopped if there is a legal or safety breach. To be clear I was told, not asked, while on my way to a long confirmed show these restrictions: ‘Prior to your performance you will be asked to sign a Show Stop Procedure Acknowledgement, confirming your understanding of these boundaries.’
“‘This documentation will be used as evidence if the festival or your performance is called into review.'” It comes after furious Bob Geldof issued a desperate plea on Sky News to save babies in Gaza.
READ MORE: Israel’s Netanyahu condemned over Gaza City plan – ‘action will only bring more bloodshed’READ MORE: Kneecap forced to cancel upcoming concert over safety concerns as they make statement
The Blessed Madonna pulled out of Boardmasters after making censorship claims(Image: theblessedmadonna/Instagram)
The DJ continued: “In this email, they framed Palestine Action, an activist group banned in the UK, as equal to murderous terrorists and amongst banned symbols of hate on the same day as Netanyahu has sworn to completely ethnically cleanse Gaza city,” before revealing they would no longer perform at the festival.
She explained: “So, it is with deep regret, but moral clarity that I announce I will not be attending or playing Boardmasters festival tonight. This is not the fault of the working class people who run this festival.
“All around the world, people of good conscience are contending with this atrocity as best they can. If you are working for peace, then I know that I have locked arms with you and we are running towards the right side of history together. “So, if you bought a ticket to Boardmasters to see my set tonight, please feel free to DM me a picture of you holding your ticket and I will make this right with you—with guest list somewhere, or a T-shirt, or something else very special because this is not your fault and I care about your happiness.”
She said she received a notice saying she would be ‘subject to a show-stop procedural agreement’(Image: theblessedmadonna/Instagram)
Concluding her heartfelt post, she added: “There nothing more that I want to do more than dance with you. Music is the perfect expression of the will of the world. It is through music that I bettered myself and fixed my heart in a million broken places.I listened to my heart to make this decision and it said: I ain’t signing s**t. Free Palestine.”
She said the same thing in the video, adding that she ‘stands in defence of free speech’ and ‘dignity of anyone working to stop the explicitly stated genocidal actions being committed in Palestine by the Israeli occupation’.
The Blessed Madonna received praise in the comment section, with many “applauding your integrity and moral standing”. Boardmasters confirmed she pulled out of the festival and said: “We can confirm that The Blessed Madonna will no longer be performing at Boardmasters this year. We fully respect and support, without judgement, her decision and hope to welcome her back in the future.”
In a statement, they said: “It is standard process to ensure artists understand the safety and show stop procedures we have in place to protect our audience. Our pre-event guidance to artists makes it clear that we respect their right to express their views at Boardmasters and we categorically do not prevent political speech or censor artists. Alongside this, we include information on legally proscribed flags and emblems to ensure performers are fully informed of current UK law.”
It comes after Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “intends to” take full control of Gaza. The PM warned this action “will do nothing” to end the war or secure the release of Hamas hostages. Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey accused Mr Netanyahu of plotting “ethnic cleansing” and called on Mr Starmer to hit Israel with sanctions.
The Mirror have reached out to Boardmasters for comment.
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Haiti’s government has announced a three-month state of emergency in several parts of the country as it battles surging gang violence.
The measure will cover the West, Centre and Artibonite departments, the latter of which is known as Haiti’s “rice basket” and has experienced an increase in attacks by armed groups in recent months.
In a statement on Saturday, the government said the state of emergency would allow the Haitian authorities to “continue the fight against insecurity and respond to the agricultural and food crisis”.
“Insecurity has negative effect both on the lives of citizens and on the country’s different sectors of activity. Given the scale of this crisis, it is imperative to decree a major mobilisation of the state’s resources and institutional means to address it,” it said.
Haiti has reeled from years of violence as powerful armed groups, often with ties to the country’s political and business leaders, have vied for influence and control of territory.
But the situation worsened dramatically after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, which created a power vacuum.
Nearly 1.3 million people have been displaced across the country, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in June, while the United Nations estimates that 4,864 people were killed from October 2024 to June of this year.
Efforts to stem the deadly gang attacks, including the deployment of a UN-backed, Kenya-led police mission, have so far failed to restore stability.
While much of the focus has been on Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, where up to 90 percent of the city is under the control of armed groups, the violence has also been spreading to other parts of the country.
Between October 2024 and the end of June, more than 1,000 Haitians were killed and 620 were kidnapped in the Artibonite and Centre departments, according to the UN’s human rights office.
In late April, dozens of people waded and swam across the Artibonite River, which cuts through the region, in a desperate attempt to flee the gangs.
Meanwhile, the government on Friday appointed Andre Jonas Vladimir Paraison as interim director of Haiti’s National Police, which has been working with Kenyan police officers leading the UN-backed mission to help quell the violence.
“We, the police, will not sleep,” Paraison said during his inauguration ceremony. “We will provide security across every corner of the country.”
Paraison previously served as head of security of Haiti’s National Palace and was on duty as a police officer when Moise was killed at his private residence in July 2021.
He replaced Normil Rameau, whose tenure of just more than a year was marked by tensions with a faction of the Transitional Presidential Council, notably Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime.
Rameau had repeatedly warned about the police force’s severe underfunding.
