ANKARA: Turkish authorities will deport close to 600 illegal Afghan migrants in eastern Turkey back to Kabul this weekend, the interior ministry said on Saturday.
The Afghan migrants had crossed into Turkey through Iran due to “ongoing terrorist activities and economic troubles” in Afghanistan, the ministry said, and security forces had handed the migrants over to provincial immigration authorities.
It said deportation procedures had been completed for 591 migrants in the eastern province of Erzurum and that charter flights to Kabul would be arranged on Saturday and Sunday to send the migrants back.
“Following the completion of deportation procedures for illegal migrants in our other provinces, deportations will speed up and continue in the coming days,” the ministry said in a statement.
Rights groups have criticized Turkey for deporting migrants back to conflict-torn countries, including Afghanistan, saying it was putting their lives at risk.
This week the Hurriyet newspaper reported that several thousand Afghan migrants had crossed into Turkey in recent months and had walked for days from the border to reach Erzurum.
Afghanistan has been ravaged by militant attacks this year, and the government has made promises to tighten security in the wake of an attack in central Kabul that killed around 100 people in January.
The attacks have undermined support for President Ashraf Ghani, who offered in February to hold peace talks with Taliban insurgents fighting to drive out international forces and reimpose their version of strict Islamic law.
The Taliban have so far shown little sign of accepting the offer of talks with the Western-backed government, which they consider an illegitimate, foreign-imposed regime, although they have offered to talk to the United States.
Turkey to deport nearly 600 Afghan migrants: Interior ministry
Turkey to deport nearly 600 Afghan migrants: Interior ministry
Extremists kill 25 workers in northeastern Nigeria
- Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown terrorists, took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose radical laws
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: Armed extremists in northeastern Nigeria killed dozens of people earlier this week in separate attacks targeting a construction site and a military installation, security officials said on Saturday.
Gunmen killed at least 25 construction workers during an ambush on Thursday in the town of Sabon Gari in Borno State, said a senior officer of the Borno State Police Command. Authorities in Nigeria often decline to publicly confirm death tolls in attacks, citing security concerns.
“It is a devastating loss, and the hallmarks point directly to Boko Haram insurgents who have long resisted developmental projects in these areas,” the police official said.
Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown terrorists, took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose radical laws.
The insurgency now includes an offshoot of the Daesh group, known as ISWAP. It has spilled into Nigeria’s northern neighbors, including Niger, killing about 35,000 civilians and displacing more than 2 million people, according to the UN.
Abdurrahman Buni, a senior officer of the Civilian Joint Task Force, a volunteer vigilante group helping the military fight extremist groups and armed gangs, confirmed that at least 25 construction workers were killed during the Thursday attack.
Buni and the police officer said extremist fighters, backed by armed drones, had raided an army base in a separate attack in the same town hours earlier. The police officer said the dead were nine soldiers and two members of a civilian task force, while about 16 injured security personnel were evacuated for medical treatment following the heavy gunfire.
He said it was unclear if the base attack was carried out by Boko Haram or the rival ISWAP, both of which are active in the region.
Nigeria is in the grip of a complex security crisis, with an insurgency by militants in the northeast alongside a surge in kidnappings for ransom by gunmen across the northwest and north-central regions over the recent months.
Last month, the US launched airstrikes in northern Nigeria, targeting terrorists.
