DAURA, NIGERIA: Boko Haram insurgents killed eight people in Nigeria during an attack on the northeastern city of Maiduguri, a civilian militia leader said on Saturday.
"We recovered a total of eight bodies of residents killed in the Boko Haram attack," late on Friday, Haram Abba Aji-Kalli of the Civilian JTF militia told AFP.
The attack came hours before Nigeria's electoral commission announced it was postponing Saturday's presidential and legislative vote for a week.
The delay has been condemned by both President Muhammadu Buhari, who is standing for a second term, and his chief opponent former vice-president Atiku Abubakar.
Boko Haram fighters shot residents while two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Friday attack on Maiduguri's Jiddari Polo neighbourhood.
The killings came after the group overran a military base north of Maiduguri on Thursday, stealing an armored vehicle and torching buildings in an attack that left "several soldiers" missing, two military sources said on condition of anonymity.
The day before, at least four people were killed when the insurgents struck a convoy belonging to the governor of northeast Nigeria's Borno state, of which Maiduguri is the capital.
In the hard-fought presidential campaign, Atiku has seized on Buhari's failure to defeat the group while the president has claimed the insurgency is weakening.
Boko Haram kills eight in northeast Nigeria, militia says
Boko Haram kills eight in northeast Nigeria, militia says
- The killings came after the group overran a military base north of Maiduguri on Thursday
South African diamond mining company says 5 trapped miners presumed dead and files for liquidation
- The incident occurred in the early hours of Feb. 17 at the Ekapa Mine in Kimberley
- “This marks the end of 158 years of continuous diamond mining in Kimberley,” CEO Jahn Hohne said
JOHANNESBURG: Five miners who were trapped last week after a mudslide flooded a shaft remain unaccounted for and are “now presumed deceased,” the owners of the diamond mining company in South Africa said Wednesday, announcing that it had filed for liquidation and shut the mine.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Feb. 17 at the Ekapa Mine in Kimberley, the capital of Northern Cape province, when a sudden surge of water, mud and rock in minutes inundated an underground section of the mine, blocking access to its lowest mining level, around 800 meters (half a mile) underground.
The mine owners, Ekapa Resources and Ekapa Minerals, said despite rescue efforts that included drilling and assessments by specialist teams conditions were confirmed to be unsurvivable as tunnels were filled with mud and water with no signs of life. A search operation is ongoing.
At the same time, the owners announced the immediate closure of the mine where the incident occurred and petitioned the courts to be placed in liquidation.
The decision came after an internal evaluation found that, given the protracted worldwide diamond market downturn, exacerbated by the recent tragedy, the company is unable to continue meeting its financial responsibilities, it said.
“This marks the end of 158 years of continuous diamond mining in Kimberley,” CEO Jahn Hohne said in a statement. “A legacy the company acknowledges with humility and respect.”
The National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa (Numsa), considered the largest single trade union in South Africa, told the state broadcaster it was “shocked” by the move, which puts the jobs of about 1,200 workers at risk. The union said it would be meeting with its legal teams to discuss a course of action to possibly block the liquidation.
“The situation is very devastating,” Numsa Kimberley organizer Lerato Mohatlane told the SABC. “If the mine is indeed liquidated, it is clear that all the 1,200 workers will then lose their jobs.”
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy said it is set to meet with the firm and be briefed on what has transpired and ways forward.
South Africa is among the world’s biggest producers of diamonds and gold, and the top producer of platinum.
