Victims of ambushed train are being used as human shields by kidnappers, Nigeria president says
CNN
Dozens of passengers kidnapped during a train attack in northern Nigeria in late March are being used as human shields by their captors, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.
Buhari said this had further complicated rescue efforts.
"They are using civilians as human shields, thereby making it difficult to confront them directly ... Bandits and terrorists, unlike professional soldiers, don't respect the rules of engagement; they don't care about killing their hostages if they come under attack," the Nigerian leader said in a statement to mark Monday's Eid al-Fitr celebration.
The US began pulling military equipment and additional personnel out of Niger on Friday after waiting months for the ruling military junta to approve US military flights into the country, two sources familiar with the matter said Saturday, ahead of a September 15 withdrawal deadline agreed to by the two countries.
The judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York on Friday informed the former president’s defense team and prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office that a comment was posted on the New York State Unified Court Systems’ public Facebook page last week by a poster who claimed to be a cousin of a juror, saying that Trump would be convicted.