Seventy-five children who were kidnapped from their school in Nigeria's northwestern state of Zamfara were freed after their abductors came under pressure from a military crackdown, a state official said on Sunday (September 12). Gunmen took the students from the village of Kaya on Sept. 1, the latest in a spate of mass kidnappings from schools across the region. More than 1,100 children have been abducted since December last year. Authorities say heavily armed gangs of bandits, seeking ransom payments, are behind the abductions.

Officials in Nigeria have said the students were freed with the help of several of their captors who had been pressured by a military crackdown to work with authorities.

Nigerian security forces have arrested three men accused of taking part in a mass abduction on Bethel Baptist High School in July. Gunmen kidnapped 121 students who were asleep in their dorm rooms. The attack took place just outside the city of Kaduna in the north-west of the country. One hundred teens have since managed to escape or were freed, but twenty-one are still unaccounted for.

The fundamentalist group, which now rules Afghanistan, put the bodies on display to deter others. The move comes after a Taliban founder said executions and amputations will return.

Gunmen have killed dozens of people in two separate attacks in Nigeria. Villagers in Kaduna and security forces in Sokoto state have fallen victim to suspected islamists and criminal gangs. Also on the show: In an industry dominated by men, we bring you a report on the women workers changing the landscape of the Central African Republic. Finally, we take a look at one of Libya's cultural jewels: Leptis Magna. An archeological site shunned by tourists due to the country's insecurity.

Heavily armed gangs have been stepping up raids on schools and villages in northwestern Nigeria, often taking hostages for ransom.

Dozens of people are believed to have been killed in an apparent suicide attack at a Shiite mosque in northern Afghanistan. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.

At least four were killed in the attack on the governor's convoy. Both he and the environment minister, who was also in the vehicle, survived.

Heavy fighting claimed at least six lives and left dozens wounded in Lebanon's capital as an escalation of tensions around last year's massive portside explosion turned parts of Beirut into a war-zone. The army deployed tanks and troops to quell street battles that sparked memories of the 1975-1990 civil war for a city already traumatised by last year's blast disaster and Lebanon's worst-ever economic crisis.

One year after #EndSARS protests rocked Nigeria, police have warned against a repeat to mark the anniversary. The largest protest in Nigeria's history ended after the army reportedly killed at least 12 demonstrators.

Nigerian protesters Legend, Solomon and Samuel were all injured on the night of October 20, 2020 - a night they "can never forget" - when the Nigerian army used live ammunition to disperse a peaceful demonstration at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos. Between anger, deception, and hope, the 'Soro Soke' ('Speak Up' in Yoruba) demonstrators still want their voices to be heard a year later.

Villagers count the dead after gunmen from a suspected criminal gang attacked the village market in Goronyo in northwest Nigeria's Sokoto state, killing 43 people.