ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — At least 33 people have been killed after Islamic militants launched simultaneous attacks on a district in northwest Nigeria, according to the police.
The attack took place on Wednesday in the Biu community of Kebbi state, police spokesman Bashir Usman said in a statement late Thursday night.
The assailants crossed from Sokoto state, parts of which are occupied by the Lakurawa insurgent group, Usman said.
“Preliminary investigations confirm that armed Lakurawa militants entered the area to rustle cattle,” he said, adding that security personnel have been deployed to restore calm and maintain order.
The Lakurawa group operates in parts of northwestern Nigeria, particularly around communities in the northwestern state of Sokoto. The armed group is known to engage in cattle rustling, raids on villages and kidnappings for ransom.
Northern Nigeria is in the grip of a complex security crisis featuring both Islamic militants and armed criminal gangs kidnapping people for ransom.
The West African nation is in security cooperation with the U.S. after initial diplomatic tensions. Earlier this week, the Nigerian military announced the arrival of 100 U.S troops in Nigeria to help train its military in its fight against armed groups.
FILE - Police officers patrol during the gubernatorial and state Assembly elections in Lagos, Nigeria, Saturday, March 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, file)
VIENNA (AP) — An Austrian court has convicted a man of manslaughter caused by gross negligence after his girlfriend froze to death as the couple attempted to climb the country's highest peak last year.
The 37-year-old defendant was given a five-month suspended sentence and a 9,600-euro ($11,300) fine in a verdict handed down by the Innsbruck state court Thursday night after a one-day trial, the Austria Press Agency reported. The court did not identify him, in keeping with local privacy rules.
The man and his 33-year-old girlfriend set out to climb the Grossglockner in western Austria in January 2025. Prosecutors said that she died about 50 meters (164 feet) below the 3,798-meter (12,460-foot) peak after he left her behind. The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Judge Norbert Hofer said that the defendant had misjudged the situation on the mountain but had not wilfully left behind his girlfriend — whose knowledge of mountaineering, he said, was “galaxies” short of the man's own. The sentence was well short of the maximum three years in prison.
“I don't see you as a murderer, I don't see you as a cold-hearted man,” he said, alluding to social media posts about the case. “I see you as the one who ultimately tried to call help and stand by his girlfriend.”
However, the judge said that the defendant had failed to take his “leadership responsibility.” He said the woman would almost certainly have survived “if the appropriate measures had been taken,” for example making an emergency call earlier or turning back.
The defendant told the court he was “endlessly sorry," APA reported. He said that the couple had made all their decisions together and planned their climbs together, including the Grossglockner climb.
He argued that he himself had no formal Alpine training and that his girlfriend's knowledge wasn't far short of his own. He said she had been in good condition when a police helicopter flew over the couple earlier in the climb and he couldn't explain her rapid deterioration. He said he had descended to seek help after consulting with her.
The verdict can be appealed.
FILE - An alpinist is seen on his way to the cross on the summit of the 'Gross Glockner' mountain, right, on Austrian province of Easttyrol, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson, File)
