ISIS Claims Responsibility For Cairo Cathedral Bombing

So-called Islamic State say it was behind a bomb attack on a church in Cairo on Sunday in which at least 25 people were killed.

One of its fighters carried out the suicide attack on the Coptic Christian cathedral, the group said in a statement.

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi had earlier named the attacker as Shafik Mahmoud Mohamed Mostafa, 22.

Mr Sisi said the attack caused “pain to all Egyptians”.

IS named the attacker as Abu Abdallah al-Masri.

President Sisi used his address at a service for victims on Monday to urge the government to amend the country’s terrorism laws, which he said were “restricting the judicial system” in its battle to prevent such attacks.

He also declared three days of national mourning for the victims of the blast.

The Christian minority in Egypt has frequently been targeted by Islamist militants.

Egypt has seen a wave of attacks by militants since 2013, when the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi, an elected leader who backed the Muslim Brotherhood, and launched a crackdown against Islamists.

Some of Mr Morsi’s supporters blamed Christians for supporting the overthrow.

Credit: BBC

Securing Chibok Girls My Responsibility, Buhari Orders Investigation Into Abduction

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation into the theft of the 219 girls from Government Secondary in Chibok, Borno State in April 2014.

The investigation would seek to, among other things, unravel the remote and immediate circumstances leading to the kidnap of the girls by Boko Haram terrorists as well as the other  events, actions and inaction that followed the incident.

This plan was revealed on Thursday when President Buhari met with some of the parents of the Chibok girls behind closed doors.

The President assured the parents that he remained fully committed to his pledge to do all within his powers to save the girls.

“I assure you that I go to bed and wake up every day with the Chibok girls on my mind.

“The unfortunate incident happened before this government came into being.

“What have we done since we assumed office? We re-organized the military, removed all the service chiefs and ordered the succeeding service chiefs to deal decisively with the Boko Haram insurgency.

“In spite of the terrible economic condition we found ourselves in, we tried to get some resources to give to the military to reorganize and equip, retrain, deploy more troops and move more forcefully against Boko Haram.

“And you all know the progress we have made. When we came in Boko Haram was in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno. Boko Haram has now been reduced to areas around Lake Chad.

“Securing the Chibok girls is my responsibility. The service chiefs and heads of our security agencies will tell you that in spite of the dire financial straits that we found the country in, I continue to do my best to support their efforts in that regard.

“This is a Nigeria where we were exporting average of two million barrels per day at over 140 dollars per barrel. Now it is down to about 27 to 30 dollars.

“You have been reading in the press how they took public funds, our funds, your funds and shared it, instead of buying weapons. That was the kind of leadership I succeeded. That was the kind of economy I inherited.

“God knows I have done my best and I will continue to do my best,” President Buhari said.

Credit: ChannelsTv

Procurement Of Arms Was Not Our Responsibility, Defence Ministry To Buhari

The Ministry of Defence has said that it has not been involved in the procurement of arms for the military for years now because the task was transferred to the Military Services Department.

The permanent secretary in the ministry, Aliyu Ismaila, after leading top officials of the ministry to brief President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday, noted that the ministry has been disengaged from playing a role in arms procurement for some years now.

“Definitely, the ministry was involved in the procurement of arms sometime but in recent years, the responsibility was shifted to the services department”, the permanent secretary explained.

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