YOLA // Suspected Islamist militants attacked a wedding convoy in northeast Nigeria and killed more than 30 people including the groom, a state government spokesman said on Sunday.
Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Muhammed Dole said only five people were killed in Saturday’s attack on the highway between Gama and Gwoza towns in Borno state. That road runs alongside forests that are a known hideout of the Boko Haram terrorist network.
But a minibus taxi driver said he passed many bodies on the road near Firgi village, where the wedding ceremony took place Saturday.
“We saw a lot of dead bodies killed by gunshots and some by the roadside that appeared to have been slaughtered” with their throats slit, the driver, who asked to be identified only as Shaibu, told reporters in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.
Shaibu said his terrified passengers wanted to turn back, but “I took the risk ... and said God is in control”.
Adamawa state spokesman Ahmad Sajoh said the wedding ceremony had taken place in Firgi village in neighboring Borno state and the groom and guests were driving home to Adamawa when they were attacked.
Last week, suspected extremists attacked a military checkpoint in the same area and witnesses said they killed at least four security force members and made off with army vehicles, weapons and ammunition.
Attacks continue in northeast Nigeria more than five months after the government declared a state of emergency and flooded three states that cover one-sixth of the country with troops and police officers.
They have driven the insurgents from major towns and attacked bush camps with aerial bombardments and ground assaults. Hundreds of combatants and civilians, mainly Muslims, have died in recent weeks.
The uprising poses the greatest threat in decades to the cohesion of Nigeria, which is Africa’s biggest oil producer and most populous nation of more than 160 million people divided almost equally between the mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.
* Associated Press
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Awar Qalb
Director: Jamal Salem
Starring: Abdulla Zaid, Joma Ali, Neven Madi and Khadija Sleiman
Two stars
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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MATCH INFO
World Cup qualifier
Thailand 2 (Dangda 26', Panya 51')
UAE 1 (Mabkhout 45 2')
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.