Africa

Nigeria's Islamist terror group Boko Haram, which has killed numerous Christians in the recent past, has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a church in the central city of Jos on Sunday that left at least three Christians, including a toddler, dead and 50 injured.

"We carried out the attack on COCIN (the Christian Church of Nigeria) church in Jos today and we did what we did as part of our resolve to avenge the killings and dehumanization of Muslims in Jos in the last 10 years," Boko Haram's spokesman, Abul Qaqa, told Nigerian media in a conference call Sunday.

A car carrying explosives struck the church compound during the worship service and exploded, according to local media. "We attacked simply because it's a church and we can decide to attack any other church," Boko Haram warned. "We have just started." more >>

The Somalia-based Islamist militant group al-Shabaab has increasingly targeted children for guerilla recruitment, forced marriage and rape, and attacked teachers and parents who tried to protect them, Human Rights Watch said in its latest report.

Young people under18 have suffered disproportionately from the ongoing conflict in Somalia, the advocacy group reported in "No Place for Children: Child Recruitment, Forced Marriage, and Attacks on Schools in Somalia," published last week.

The country has been torn by violence for years. Fighting between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and TFG-aligned militias on one hand and al-Shabaab, the Islamist armed group that now controls much of the country, on the other, intensified in the capital, Mogadishu, and other parts of south-central Somalia in mid-2010 and early 2011, according to the report. more >>

This Thursday, the U.K.'s Prime Minister David Cameron will meet with other world leaders in London to pound out a plan for stability in Somalia.

The purpose behind the one-day meeting between powerful leaders and international organizations is to come up with a comprehensive solution regarding Somalia by focusing on key issues like terrorism, piracy, and humanitarian assistance.

But even now, as preparations for the meeting are taking place, almost one million Somalis are seeking refuge in neighboring countries because of fighting and famine conditions. New research from World Vision shows that children in Somalia are already suffering high levels of trauma as a result of the fighting, displacement and ongoing food crisis. more >>

SULEJA, Nigeria – Suspected Islamic extremists detonated a bomb outside a church building here on Sunday (Feb. 19), two months after Boko Haram Islamists killed 44 Christians and blinded seven in a church bombing in nearby Madalla.

Sunday's blast in Suleja, in front of Christ Embassy church during their morning worship, injured five people, one seriously, sources said. The bomb, planted in a parked car, was left by suspected members of Boko Haram, which seeks to impose sharia (Islamic law) throughout Nigeria, and authorities arrested some members of the sect the same day.

Triumphant Ministries International Church is also near the site of the explosion. Peter Osema, a search-and-rescue worker with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency, told Compass that the bomb was likely meant to affect both churches, and indeed Compass learned that at least one of those injured belongs to the Triumph Ministries church. more >>

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe claims to be "fit as a fiddle" as he celebrates his 88th birthday Tuesday, and insists he has no intention of stepping down anytime soon.

In a radio interview on Tuesday, Africa's oldest leader revealed that he has no immediate plan to retire, ignoring international criticism of his economic policies and human rights record.

"I have died many times. That's where I have beaten Christ. Christ died once and resurrected once," Mugabe, a self-proclaimed devout Roman Catholic, told state radio as reported by MSN. more >>

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Two Catholic priests abducted at gunpoint in Rabak, Sudan last month have been released amid a wave of forcible conscriptions into rebel southern militias.

Their captors – South Sudanese militiamen loyal to (north) Sudan's Islamic government – accused the Rev. Joseph Makwey and the Rev. Sylvester Mogga of ties to the South Sudan military. South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan on July 9, 2011, has been in military conflict with (north) Sudan over border areas while staving off southern rebel militias.

"They knew we were just priests, yet they 'arrested' us," Mogga told Compass. more >>