#militancy

#militancy

“Last night in the Fateh Khel area of Bannu, a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a police checkpoint, after which multiple militants entered the post,” Bannu police official Muhammad Sajjad Khan said. He added more than 100 militants took part in the attack. Officials said the car was filled with explosives when militants rammed it into the postImage: Ehsan Khattak/REUTERS Deadly checkpoint assault An officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that other law enforcement personnel had been sent to help the police but that the terrorists had ambushed them, causing some of the casualties.

"They're creating a proto-state that stretches like a belt from western Mali all the way to the borderlands of Benin. ... It is a substantial - even exponential - expansion," said Héni Nsaibia, West Africa senior analyst for the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.