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Egypt has offered to evacuate its citizens from Libya after Islamic State (IS) released photos which it says show 21 Coptic Egyptians kidnapped there.

Suspected Nigerian Boko Haram militants have carried out an attack on Chad overnight, the first such assault on Chadian soil, security sources say.

Security forces have removed firebrand opposition leader Julius Malema from South Africa's parliament during a speech by President Jacob Zuma.

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has denied he was consulted over the postponement of Saturday's presidential and parliamentary elections.

Robert Mugabe has suspended no fewer than 27 bodyguards for failing to stop his embarrassing fall down podium steps, sources have claimed.

Suspected militants from Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram have hijacked a bus in northern Cameroon, abducting at least 20 people, residents say.

Fighters from Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamist sect attacked a prison over the border in Niger overnight, but were repelled, a military source there said on Monday.

Nigeria's opposition says the decision to postpone the 14 February presidential elections by six weeks is a "major setback for democracy".

African nations pulling together a regional force to fight Nigeria's Boko Haram militants on Saturday pledged 8,700 soldiers, policemen and civilians, an increase from earlier estimates for the mission.

The Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram has attacked a town in Niger for the first time, witnesses say.

Niger's government said it killed more than 100 of the group's fighters as it repulsed the attack on the border town of Bosso.

The group reportedly killed at least 70 people in an attack on the town of Fotokol in Cameroon on Wednesday.

The Boko Haram insurgency has left thousands dead and displaced more than a million over the past six years.

The militants control a large stretch of land in north-eastern Nigeria.

Its neighbours have promised to send troops to help it fight the militants, who are now attacking those countries.

On Friday, US intelligence officials said that they believed Boko Haram had up to 6,0

Boko Haram militants have reportedly killed at least 70 people in an attack on the Cameroonian town of Fotokol, on the border with Nigeria.

Chad's army says it has killed more than 200 militant Islamists and lost nine men during a battle to recapture a key town in north-eastern Nigeria.

ABUJA — A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fixed February 9 to hear a fresh suit seeking to disqualify the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), from contesting the forthcoming presidential election.

Chadian troops have entered Nigeria to join the battle against militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and rebel commander Riek Machar have signed a deal, committing to end the conflict that has devastated the country.

MAIDUGURI—There was fierce fighting, yesterday, between the Nigerian troops and Boko Haram insurgents in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. About 80 insurgents were killed, while several others escaped with bullet wounds. The latest attack came barely a week after the insurgents tried to take over the state capital from the Damaturu-Jimtilo axis but were repelled by soldiers who deployed massive artillery and fighter jets to dislodge them.

The first large-scale trials of an experimental vaccine against Ebola are due to begin in Liberia.

Boko Haram Islamist militants have launched a fresh assault on the strategically important Nigerian city of Maiduguri, eyewitnesses say.

Gunfire was reported on the streets of the northern city after an attack that began in the early hours of Sunday.

It comes a week after Boko Haram's last attempt to capture the capital of Borno state was repelled by the Nigerian army with heavy loss of life.

Boko Haram began guerrilla operations in 2009 to create an Islamic state.

It has taken control of many towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria in the last year.

The conflict has displaced at least 1.5 million people, while more than 2,000 were killed last year.

'In fear'

Residents in Maiduguri told the AFP news agency that the attack began at 03:00 (02:00 GMT) and that heavy f