- Zimbabwe police manned checkpoints on many main roads on Saturday, searching vehicles for protesters allegedly involved in recent anti-government demonstrations.
- Zimbabwe police manned checkpoints on many main roads on Saturday, searching vehicles for protesters allegedly involved in recent anti-government demonstrations.A crackdown by security forces has been fiercely criticised by the UN human rights office, with allegations of shootings, beatings and abductions of opposition figures, activists and ordinary residents.Police roadblocks were a notorious feature of daily life under former president Robert Mugabe.But they largely disappeared after he was ousted by the military in November 2017 and succeeded by his former deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa."We want to tell members of the public that... we have already set up security checkpoints where police officers and other security institutions will be checking," police spokeswoman Charity Charamba told Saturday's state-owned Herald newspaper.
- She said the checkpoints were to catch suspected looters and recover property stolen during protests that erupted after Mnangagwa last weekend announced a 150-percent increase in petrol prices.The Herald said 700 people had been arrested after the violent protests, which it blamed on the opposition MDC party and trade unions.
Al-Shabaab strikes again. A few hours ago, the Al-Shabaab Islamist group in Somalia claimed responsibility for the bloody terrorist attack currently going on in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, this was reported by the SITE Intelligence Group – an organization that monitors terrorist activities. The attack was carried out in DusitD2 hotel and office compound in the Nairobi suburb of Westlands, where a blast and gunfire were heard. In a tweet, The Associated Press said: “BREAKING: Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabaab claims responsibility for Nairobi attack, says fighters still inside complex.” Similarly, Huff Post in the UK tweeted: “Everybody was just running everywhere.' Somalia-based group, al-Shabaab, have claimed responsibility for a hotel attack in Nairobi, Kenya.” During a media briefing a few minutes ago, Joseph Boinnet, inspector-general of Kenya’s national police service, said: “We are aware that there still could be some armed criminals still ho