Bombs explode in northeastern Nigeria city during meeting of political opposition parties

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MAIDUGURI, Nigeria –  Witnesses say several bombs have exploded in a northeastern Nigeria city which is hosting a meeting of opposition political parties. The blasts happened Thursday afternoon in the city of Maiduguri, long under assault by a radical Islamic sect known as Boko Haram. A security official said he believed some soldiers were killed in the blasts, but did not have any other information. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to journalists.  The All Progressives Congress, a recently announced amalgam of opposition parties in Nigeria, was holding a meeting Thursday in the city that had drawn powerful politicians. Meanwhile, police in the eastern state of Taraba said foreigners working for a construction company escaped a kidnapping attempt Wednesday night that killed two police officers.

Jets hit town, Syria envoy flies in on truce bid

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Syrian jets hammered a rebel town on Friday, the second day of an assault in which the regime is accused of using cluster bombs, as peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi landed in Damascus to press for a truce.

Brahimi is bidding to secure a ceasefire during the four-day Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday from October 26, hoping it will bring a longer cessation in the 19-month conflict that has already killed more than 34,000 people.

“We will have discussions here with the government, the political parties and civil society about the situation in Syria,” Brahimi said at Damascus airport.

Hoodlums attack Nigerian embassy in Berlin

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The Nigerian Embassy in Berlin was attacked with paint bombs on Wednesday night by unknown persons, the police have said.

According to police spokesman, unknown attackers threw glass bottles filled with a thick and sticky liquid at the front of the building in Neue Jakobstraße, (The name of the street where the embassy is situated), the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

The spokesman said the police have handed over the investigation of the incident to state security authorities, adding that political motive may not be ruled out in the attack.

The police said security workers noticed the damage to the building on Thursday morning.

The spokesman said that on Monday, 120 activists, members of the “Refugee Protest March in Berlin campaign” gathered in front of the Nigerian Embassy to demonstrate against the practice of deporting asylum seekers from Germany.

According to him, 14 of the activists illegally entered to the embassy, in order to “occupy” it as part of the protest march.

He explained that those who entered the premises were later ejected by security officials while 25 of the protesters were temporarily detained and later released.

The spokesman stated that the demonstrators accused the embassy workers of “working closely with the German state to ensure that the processing of the largest number of deportations from Africa came from Nigeria.”

He emphasised that his agency would, however, investigate if there was a connection between the attempted occupation of the embassy on Monday and the recent paint attack on Wednesday night to the early hours of Thursday.

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Source : punchng[dot]com