Nigeria team bus attacked post World Cup qualifying match in Ethopia - Player injured

Nigeria's Nosa Igiebor was injured on Sunday when the team's bus was attacked in Addis Ababa after their World Cup play-off first-leg against Ethiopia.

The Real Betis midfielder needed emergency treatment on his palm after the bus windows were shattered as the team left the Addis Ababa ground.

Nigeria, who won the match 2-1, have reported the incident to Fifa.

"We hope Fifa will take an action," Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) vice-president Mike Umeh told BBC Sport.

"It's a shame that such an embarrassing behaviour could happen after a football match."

Ben Alaiya, the Super Eagles media officer, joined Umeh in condemning the actions.

Alaiya said in a press statement that fans attacked the team bus with stones after the match and one of the heavy stones shattered the rear windscreen of the bus, sending all inside the bus scampering for safety.

"Igiebor was the unlucky one as the stone slashed his right palm leading to profuse bleeding that was immediately attended to by team doctor, Ibrahim Gyaran," he wrote.

Nigeria are favourites to progress to their second straight World Cup when the two sides meet again in Calabar on 16 November.

BBC

Charges against Russians attempting to traffic guns in Nigeria dropped

The seven were among 15 Russian sailors charged with illegally bringing weapons into Nigeria last year, after Nigerian authorities intercepted a ship on October 23 and found on board several guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Confirming the verdict, defense lawyer Ogidigba Mobosa also told Reuters TV that two Nigerians who had been aboard the ship had been charged with wrongfully telling the Russians they had permission to enter Nigerian territory with the weapons.

The boat was operated by Nigerian shipping company Blue Sea Maritime.

Arms smuggling to and through Nigeria is rife, with demand fuelled by an Islamist rebellion in the north and by armed robbery, kidnapping, oil theft and piracy in the south.

Nigeria is also sometimes used as a conduit for shipping arms to other conflict-ridden parts of West Africa.

Shippers complain that a lack of permission for armed private security leaves them vulnerable to pirates. West Africa has overtaken Somalia's coast as the region of the continent worst affected by piracy, experts say.

During the court hearings, the Russian sailors did not explain why the arms were on board their ship.

REUTERS

Related stories: Video - Russia wants Nigeria to release arrested sailors

Plane crash in lagos leaves dozens dead

A plane carrying 20 people has crashed shortly after take-off from Lagos airport in Nigeria, officials say.

A rescue operation is ongoing. At least 13 people are known to have died and several more of those on board were injured.

The Associated Airlines plane was bound for Akure, which lies about 140 miles (225km) north-east of Lagos.

The plane's engine appeared to fail and the aircraft plunged to the ground and burst into flames, officials said.

The charter flight took off at about 09:30 local time (08:30 GMT) from the domestic terminal at Lagos's Murtala Mohammed International Airport.

Officials said the plane crashed on to open land within the airport complex, close to a fuel storage depot.

It is not yet clear whether the fuel caught fire.

Eyewitness Ahmad Safian told the BBC: "I heard a loud bang and then there was lots of black smoke. The security forces rushed straight to the scene. I saw three bodies removed from the wreckage."

Mr Safian said the road to the airport was blocked for a short time but operations were continuing as normal at the airport.

Yakubu Dati from the Nigerian airports authority said that 20 people had been on board the plane.

Akure is the capital of Ondo state. Local media reported that the plane was carrying the body of the former state governor, Olusegun Agagu, who was to have been buried this weekend.

Although Nigeria's air safety record has improved in recent years, the country has a history of major passenger plane crashes.

In June 2012, more than 150 people were killed after a dual engine failure caused a plane to crash in Lagos.

Lagos airport is a major hub for West Africa and saw 2.3 million passengers pass through it in 2009, according to the most recent statistics provided by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.

BBC

Video - Security stepped up after Boko Haram attack on College in Northern Nigeria

Nigeria is stepping up security at schools in Yobe state. Dozens of students are in the hospital following an attack on their college that left at least 50 dead. The army says the students were shot as they slept by Boko Haram fighters.

Boko Haram attack college - Dozens dead

Suspected Islamist gunmen have attacked a college in north-eastern Nigeria, killing up to 50 students.

The students were shot dead as they slept in their dormitory at the College of Agriculture in Yobe state.

North-eastern Nigeria is under a state of emergency amid an Islamist insurgency by the Boko Haram group.

Boko Haram is fighting to overthrow Nigeria's government to create an Islamic state, and has launched a number of attacks on schools.

Classrooms burned

Casualty figures from the latest attack vary, but a local politician told the BBC that around 50 students had been killed.

The politician said two vanloads of bodies had been taken to a hospital in Yobe's state capital, Damaturu.

A witness quoted by Reuters news agency counted 40 bodies at the hospital, mostly those of young men believed to be students.

College provost Molima Idi Mato, speaking to Associated Press, also said the number of dead could be as high as 50, adding that security forces were still recovering the bodies and that about 1,000 students had fled the campus.

A Nigerian military source told AP that soldiers had collected 42 bodies.

The gunmen also set fire to classrooms, a military spokesman in Yobe state, Lazarus Eli, told Agence France-Presse.

The college is in the rural Gujba district.

In May, President Goodluck Jonathan ordered an operation against Boko Haram, and a state of emergency was declared for the north-east on 14 May.

Many of the Islamist militants left their bases in the north-east and violence initially fell, but revenge attacks quickly followed.

In June, Boko Haram carried out two attacks on schools in the region.

At least nine children were killed in a school on the outskirts of Maiduguri, while 13 students and teachers were killed in a school in Damaturu.

In July in the village of Mamudo in Yobe state, Islamist militants attacked a school's dormitories with guns and explosives, killing at least 42 people, mostly students.

Boko Haram regards schools as a symbol of Western culture. The group's name translates as "Western education is forbidden".

Boko Haram is led by Abubakar Shekau. The Nigerian military said in August that it might have killed him in a shoot-out.

However, a video released last week purportedly showed him alive.

Other previous reports of his death later proved to be unfounded.

BBC