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DETROIT — Two men who had acquired high-powered weapons and practiced at gun ranges were scouting LGBTQ+ bars in suburban Detroit for a possible attack, authorities said Monday in filing terrorism-related charges against the pair.

Momed Ali, Majed Mahmoud and co-conspirators were inspired by Islamic State extremism, according to a 72-page criminal complaint unsealed in federal court. Investigators say a minor, identified only as Person 1, was deeply involved in the discussions.

“Our American heroes prevented a terror attack,” U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said on X.

The men, described as too young to drink alcohol, had looked at LGBTQ+ bars in Ferndale as a possible attack, according to the complaint.

FBI agents had surveilled the men for weeks, even using a camera on a pole outside a Dearborn house, according to the court filing. Investigators also got access to encrypted chats and other conversations.

FBI Director Kash Patel had announced arrests Friday, but no details were released at the time while agents searched a home in Dearborn and a storage unit in nearby Inkster.

The FBI said the men repeatedly referred to “pumpkins” in their conversations, a reference to a Halloween attack.

Ali and Mahmoud were charged with receiving and transferring guns and ammunition for terrorism. Mahmoud had recently bought more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition that could be used for AR-15-style rifles, and they practiced at gun ranges, the government alleged.

They will appear in court Monday for their initial appearance. Mahmoud’s lawyer, William Swor, declined to comment. Messages seeking comment from Ali’s lawyer, Amir Makled, were not immediately answered.

Over the weekend, Makled seemed to wave off the allegations, saying they were the result of “hysteria” and “fear-mongering.”

It’s the second case since May involving alleged plots in the Detroit area on behalf of the Islamic State. The FBI said it arrested a man who had spent months planning an attack against a U.S. Army site in Warren. Ammar Said has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody.

White writes for the Associated Press.

Nov. 3 (UPI) — Two men face federal charges for allegedly plotting a terror attack in Michigan over Halloween weekend, according to a criminal complaint unsealed.

On Friday, FBI Director Kash Patel stated the bureau “thwarted a potential terrorist attack.” Patel added that FBI agents arrested “multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend.”

Five suspects were arrested, two of whom — Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud — were charged with multiple felonies in a 73-page criminal complaint in Michigan’s eastern federal judicial district.

Ali and Mahmoud were charged with receiving, transferring, attempting and conspiring to transfer firearms and ammunition.

In addition, the two suspects were charged with knowing and having reasonable cause to believe that the firearms and ammunition would be used to commit a federal terror crime.

The two allegedly purchased three AR-15-style rifles in August and September along with thousands of ammunition rounds and other firearm accessories, according to court documents.

Suspects referred to an attack by “brothers” in private WhatsApp messages on behalf of an Islamic extremist terror group.

FBI officials said the two “traveled together to scout potential target locations in Ferndale, Michigan” that included a number of known LGBTQ+ bars and clubs.

On Saturday, Ali was described as a 20-year-old U.S. citizen “with a lawful interest in recreational firearms.”

“There is no evidence whatsoever of a planned terror or ‘mass casualty’ plot,” said attorney Amir Makled, who represents Ali.

Two of the five arrested were released from custody.

Meanwhile, Ali and Mahmoud were due in court Monday.

A drug dealer who organised a Russian-ordered arson attack on a warehouse providing aid to Ukraine has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Dylan Earl, 21, admitted a National Security Act offence over the attack on industrial units in Leyton, east London, on 20 March 2024.

He was jailed alongside five other men for their part in the plot.

An investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command found Earl, from Leicestershire, was working under the instruction of Russian mercenary Wagner Group, who are proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation. The case is the first to be brought under the National Security Act 2023.

Before his arrest 12 years ago, Ahmadu Gujja was a strong man in his mid-20s and his family’s breadwinner. Life in Gallari, his village, was simple and fulfilling. He farmed, reared animals, and has supported his widowed mother and seven younger siblings since his father’s death. 

Gallari is a community of the Shuwa Arab tribe in Konduga Local Government Area (LGA) of Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. The remote village lies along Damboa road, 28 km away from Maiduguri, the state’s capital, 12 km from the nearest military base, and 98 km away from Chibok LGA. 

In 2014, a tragedy struck. For Gallari, it meant near extinction. For Ahmadu, it meant losing everything overnight. He had just married his second wife and was eagerly expecting the birth of a child from his first wife when the tragedy unfolded.

When HumAngle met Ahmadu, the weight of the memories of that day was almost unbearable. Blind now from injuries and neglect suffered in detention, he struggled through tears to recall what happened.

“I can never forget the day,” Ahmadu started.

On Thursday in April 2014, one week after the 276 school girls in Chibok were abducted by the infamous Boko Haram group, soldiers in a convoy with the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) drove past Gallari without incident. Villagers, including Ahmadu and his neighbour Abubakar, remember seeing them. 

But the following morning, everything changed. Around 9 a.m., soldiers and CJTF members surrounded the village, herding men, women,  and children into a square. 

Ahmadu had barely woken. He was waiting for his wife to finish cooking and to heat water for his bath, a daily routine for Ahmadu before taking his herd to graze. Instead, he was stripped alongside 41 other men. Among them were two strangers, one from a neighbouring village who had come to the market, and another who cut trees for a living. 

“They gathered everyone in the village. They asked if we were Boko Haram. We told them no, but they wanted us to say yes,” Ahmadu recalled.

The soldiers picked all 42 men, tortured them in front of their families, and hauled them away in military trucks to Dalwa, a nearby village. “Some had their ears cut off, others were stabbed. I myself was tied with ropes and beaten by soldiers and members of the CJTF,” Ahmadu recounted the horrors of that morning. 

Before transporting them further, soldiers interrogated the men about the abducted Chibok girls, whether they had seen Boko Haram passing through or witnessed the girls being taken. “We told them we saw nothing, that we don’t know Boko Haram,” Ahmadu told HumAngle.

That same day, the men were moved to Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri. The conditions there were appalling, he recounted.

“The cell was very tight, with no good toilet. We could only defecate in a bucket. There was not enough water, and the food was not enough,” Ahmadu said, adding that their hands were tied tight from behind for as long as he could remember.

They were given pap in the morning, maize for lunch, and semovita at night. Soldiers continued to interrogate them, demanding that they confess to being Boko Haram members.

“We suffered to the extent that if we were hiding something, we would have confessed,” he said.

For one week, they endured torture, including being tied up and left under the scorching sun from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., given just a bottle of water and a biscuit. Within days, three of the men had died due to hardship, untreated injuries, and the unbearable living conditions.

Years of darkness 

After a week at Giwa, 39 survivors from Gallari were flown with hundreds of other detainees to a military detention centre in Niger State, North Central Nigeria. The conditions there were even worse. Their clothes were stripped, and their trousers cut short. They were forced to sleep on bare floors. Water was scarce. It was simply depressing, Ahmadu recounted. 

“They gave us water in a teacup, and it was not daily. Sometimes we spend a whole day without water. They gave us tea with bread, but without water, we couldn’t eat. Sometimes, we drank our urine,” he recounted.

The first year was especially deadly. Ahmadu said many detainees died from hunger and suffering. “We have witnessed several cases of dead bodies disposed of in the cell. I did not have the count, but many Gallari men died within that period,” Ahmadu told HumAngle.

It was in Niger that Ahmadu began to lose his sight, first from a head injury during interrogation, then from months in darkness. “They kept us in a cell for one year without seeing the sun. When they later brought us out, they told us to look at the sun. That was when my eyes began to hurt,” he recalled. “I first lost vision from the right eye, then one year later, I lost the vision of the left eye. Turning me completely blind in a protracted year.”

For years, he suffered without treatment. Doctors in the prison said they had no specialist, and he was denied access to outside care. 

After six years in detention, a court declared Ahmadu and others innocent. But instead of being released immediately, they spent more years in detention. 

“The court said we were not guilty, but we still stayed,” he said.

For more than 11 years, Ahmadu did not hear from his family. “I gave up because I had lost everything. I had stopped thinking about home because it only reminded me of memories I had missed and would never get back. I missed my two wives and the unborn child I left,” he said. 

The isolation drove him to despair. At one point, he contemplated suicide. Ahmadu started shedding tears from the eyes he could no longer see with when he recalled the memories.

A shattered homecoming

In 2024, the detainees declared innocent were moved to Mallam Sidi, a rehabilitation centre in Gombe State in the country’s North East, where they underwent social reintegration activities. That same year, HumAngle compiled a list of the 42 men from Gallari who had been arrested and remained untraceable to their families. We submitted the list to the Nigerian army, asking for their whereabouts. HumAngle never heard back. 

But in April 2025, Ahmadu and two brothers from Gallari — Mohammed and Hashim Garba — were freed and reunited with their families in Maiduguri. “Out of the 42 men from Gallari, only five survived. And out of the five, only three of us were released,” Ahmadu told HumAngle. “The other two, Maina Musa and Isa Usman, remain in custody, waiting for court hearings.”

The military transported them to the Maryam Abacha Hospital in Maiduguri. They were received by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which offered them food and asked about their problems. But no medical care was provided. The military then told them to call their families or find their own way home.

For Ahmadu, returning home after 12 years was devastating. His first wife, pregnant at the time of his arrest, had died with her unborn child from grief and trauma. “She was not eating; she vomited up any meal we made her to eat,” Ahmadu’s mother recalled.

His second wife had been abducted by Boko Haram, bore four children for a fighter before fleeing, and when she heard the news of Ahmadu, she tried to reunite with him. But he refused.

Since his release, Ahmadu has continued to suffer excruciating pain in his eyes and head. With no access to proper medical care, he relies only on the little drugs his mother can afford from local vendors, mostly painkillers that provide temporary relief but do not address his actual ailments.

Two months after his return, Ahmadu continues to live with deep trauma that affects his daily life. His mother, who had long lived with little hope of ever seeing her son again, was overjoyed at his release. In her happiness and out of concern for his condition, she quickly arranged a small wedding so that Ahmadu could have a companion to support him through the hardship of his blindness. 

In June, three months after he was freed, Ahmadu married his new wife. Today, the couple depend largely on his ageing mother, who struggles to provide for them from the little income she makes selling dairy milk. “My biggest fear is for my younger ones. My mother is still the one caring for me,” Ahmadu lamented.

He lives in an unfinished building under thatch that barely gives them shelter. It’s the rainy season, and everywhere is leaking in the room when HumAngle visits his home. Now blind and dependent with no livelihood, Ahmadu lives in humiliation. “Whenever it rains, we cannot sleep because the roof leaks. Before, even our goats had better shelter than this,” he said quietly.

Ahmadu lives with trauma and the weight of a lost life. He longs for justice but fears causing unrest. “If I can get my rights without causing any riot in Nigeria, I will be glad. But I don’t want anything that will cause a problem. We need a lot of help;  I need support to start a business so that I can take care of my new family,” he said.

The brothers’ ordeal

Like Ahmadu, Mohammed, 35, and Hashim, 32, were ordinary herders and farmers before the raid. Soldiers seized them alongside the other men of Gallari. Mohammed remembers the day clearly. He was sitting with his wife, about to eat, before taking his animals out to graze. Then soldiers in nearly 40 vehicles surrounded the village. 

From Gallari to Dalwa, then Giwa Barracks, and finally Niger State, the Garba brothers lived through the same cycle of torture and despair as Ahmadu.

“My friend Dahiru died in my presence because of thirst,” Mohammed said. “We could go four days without water. Some of us even drank urine to survive. By the time the Red Cross came to bring carpets and water, 37 of our people had died.”

Hashim recalled how three men died from torture before his distraught eyes within a week at Giwa Barracks. He also watched his elder brother faint under the beatings. Mohammed’s left ear was cut off, his wrists and back etched with scars from where he had been tied. Hashim, too, bore the marks of restraint and filth, his skin discoloured from months without bathing.

When the International Committee of the Red Cross intervened, conditions improved slightly, but the damage was irreversible.

Although eventually declared innocent by the courts, Mohammed and Hashim remained imprisoned. “We were told to calm down, that someday we would be released. It took 11 years,” Mohammed recounted.

At the rehabilitation centre in Gombe, where they were finally transferred, the brothers heard devastating news from home. “I heard that my wife and unborn child had died. My father, too, had died,” Mohammad said quietly. “When we were captured, my wife was pregnant. She gave birth to a dead child because of the way they took us. Later, she also died.”

Hashim’s grief was different but just as heavy. “We came back with nothing,” he said. 

“Even this phone I use was given to me by my mother. I feel shy when I see people I used to know as children, now grown up. Everything has changed while we were gone,” he said.

The brothers returned to find their family scattered and their property gone. Before his arrest, Mohammed owned about 30 cows and goats. His herd and even his house are now gone. “We only depend on our elder brother, who is taking care of our mother. We want to be self-reliant again,” Hashim said. 

Both men carry lasting scars. Mohammed struggles with heart pain and breathing difficulties. Hashim still bears deep marks on his wrists and head.

“When we first came back, I couldn’t even walk to the toilet without help. I had to reduce how much water I drank just to avoid disturbing people every time,” he said.

But beyond the physical pain is the humiliation of starting life from nothing. 

“We don’t want to be beggars. If I can have a wife, I can have someone to help me every day. But now, even marriage is far from us. Before, I married my wife with ₦100,000. Today, you need nearly a million. And I have nothing,”  Mohammed said.

Upon release, Ahmadu, Mohammed, and Hashim told HumAngle that the authorities gave them ₦50,000 cash. “They wasted 12 years of our lives. How can we recover with ₦50,000? I exhausted the money two days after my release,” Mohammed told HumAngle.

‘When we saw them, we cried’

The release of Ahmadu and the Garba brothers broke years of silence but also reopened deep wounds, especially for families who have lost loved ones forever. “When we saw them, we cried. They were unrecognisable,” a relative told HumAngle.

Other locals, like Kellu Janga, spent everything they had chasing hopes of reunion. She turned to people who claimed they could help to secure the men’s release, but those efforts proved futile. Her grief eventually cost her her eyesight, and she now depends on her grandson Abubakar for survival.

“We need the government to tell us where the rest are. We need justice,” Modu, the village’s deputy head and the only man spared during the mass arrest, told HumAngle.

Gallari’s tragedy has remained invisible, overshadowed by global attention to other incidents like the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls that led to the raid. While the world mourned those girls, Gallari’s men vanished in silence. No official explanation has ever been given. The Nigerian Army has not responded to HumAngle’s letters seeking answers.

Children who were toddlers when their fathers were seized are now teenagers, growing up without fatherly support. Some dropped out of school to fend for themselves. 

Abubakar, only ten when his father and uncles were taken, has carried the burden of raising his siblings ever since. “I just want to see my father again. If he is alive, let them bring him back. If not, we deserve to know,” he said.

‘A gross violation of the constitution’

In the North East, transitional justice has often focused on the reintegration of former Boko Haram members through initiatives such as the Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration Borno Model (DDRR) programme, a counter-terrorism project aimed at rehabilitating and reintegrating surrendered Boko Haram members back into society, and Sulhu, a local peace and deradicalisation initiative. 

While these efforts aim to end violence and rebuild communities, they leave behind unresolved wounds for families whose loved ones were arrested arbitrarily and held without trial for years. For these families, justice is not about reintegration alone but also about truth, accountability, and the right to know the fate of those taken away.

Relatives of detainees interviewed by HumAngle argue that any conversation about reconciliation feels incomplete and one-sided when innocent civilians remain behind bars without trial. Their demand is simple: justice must include the release or fair trial of those held in military detention centres, alongside information about those who have died in custody. 

For them, healing cannot come from dialogue with insurgents while their own sons, brothers, and fathers languish in silence and neglect.

Aisha, one of several individuals and groups in Borno State advocating for justice and the release of their loved ones, expressed the frustration shared by many. “How can we have Sulhu with Boko Haram members who were the cause of the mass arrests, detentions, and killings? Our children, sons, relatives, and parents have been detained without trial for many years, and you want us to accept Sulhu? Release our children if you want justice for all. Our children were innocent when the military arrested them,” she said.

Aisha’s activism began with seeking the release of her own son, arrested along with other youths in a mosque in 2012. Since then, she has become a prominent voice for families whose loved ones remain in military custody.

Sheriff Ibrahim, a lawyer and human rights activist in Maiduguri, described the detention of the Gallari men as “a gross violation of the Nigerian Constitution and international human rights law.” He explained that under Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended in 2011), no person should be detained for more than 24 hours or at most 48 hours without being charged in court. 

“The law is clear. Anyone arrested should either be charged within that time frame or released on bail. To hold people for over 10 years without trial is unlawful and unconstitutional,” he said.

According to Ibrahim, the fundamental rights of the Gallari men and their families were completely violated. Chapter Four of the Constitution guarantees the right to life, the right to human dignity, and freedom of movement. “These men were presumed innocent but were treated as though they were guilty without evidence. Their families too suffered years of separation, uncertainty, and economic hardship,” he added.

He further noted that survivors and families of those who died in detention have the right to seek justice and compensation from the Nigerian state. “The victims, survivors, and their families can sue the government for unlawful and unjustified detention. There were no prior charges against them, no fair hearing, and no due process. These are the most basic rights guaranteed by law,” Ibrahim told HumAngle.

In contrast to the treatment of Boko Haram fighters and innocent civilians, Ibrahim criticised what he described as double standards in the Nigerian justice system. “Former Boko Haram members who committed crimes against humanity are reintegrated into society through government programmes. Yet innocent civilians like the Gallari men were locked away for years without trial. That is clearly a misplaced priority and a failure of justice,” Ibrahim said.

To prevent such cases in the future, Ibrahim called for an independent committee of inquiry involving civil society groups, non-governmental organisations, and other stakeholders. 

“There must be transparency and accountability. If anyone is found guilty of aiding or abetting, they should face charges. But if there is insufficient evidence, then the person should be released immediately and compensated. That is the only way to restore public trust in the justice system,” Ibrahim noted. 

This story was produced by HumAngle and co-published with other media.

A court in Manchester in the United Kingdom has sentenced seven men to prison terms ranging from 12 to 35 years for the systematic sexual abuse of two teenage girls in Rochdale, in the north of England, between 2001 and 2006.

Mohammed Zahid, a 65-year-old market trader and the group’s ringleader, received the longest sentence on Wednesday after being convicted of multiple counts of rape and other sexual offences against both victims.

Six other men, aged between 39 and 67, were also convicted following a four-month trial that concluded in June.

They formed part of what would later be referred to as “grooming gangs” by UK media and be used in toxic public discourse by the far right as a means to demonise British Asians and Muslims.

The girls, who did not know each other, were both 13 years old when the abuse began.

Prosecutors presented evidence that the victims, both from troubled family backgrounds, were initially offered gifts, money, and places to stay. The abuse escalated as they were taken to various locations across the town, where they were given alcohol and drugs before being sexually assaulted by the members of the group.

Both victims provided impact statements during the three-day sentencing hearing. One described how the abuse had affected every aspect of her life, from her physical and mental health to her ability to form relationships. The other said that, at the time, she believed all men would expect sex from her and urged other victims to come forward regardless of how much time had passed.

The case represents part of ongoing legal proceedings addressing historical child sexual exploitation in Rochdale, which first came to public attention in the early 2010s. Local authorities and the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have acknowledged failures in their duty to protect the victims.

Stephen Watson, the chief constable of GMP, issued an apology in April 2022, admitting that the force had been “borderline incompetent” in the way it managed the issue. The force, along with other local institutions, had failed to act despite warnings, according to a 2022 government-commissioned report, which led to an impression that the local council and police were downplaying “the ethnic dimensions of child sexual exploitation”.

Estimates from a 2014 report suggested the number of victims who may have been exploited by men primarily of Pakistani heritage in such cases is at least 1,400.

However, the vast majority of sexual cases in the UK continue to be perpetrated by white men.

The issue was raised again in the UK earlier this year when US tech billionaire Elon Musk began using his X account to accuse Prime Minister Keir Starmer of being complicit due to his role as head of the Crown Prosecution Service at the time. The government rejected the allegations.

Other figures later seized on the issue, explicitly linking the perpetrators’ ethnicity to their crimes and blaming a culture of permissiveness towards minorities for blocking investigations, despite evidence to the contrary.

Far-right agitator Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known widely as Tommy Robinson, frequently campaigned on the issue, blaming the UK’s Muslim community and accusing the government of a cover-up, and got Musk’s backing due to his belief that Robinson, who has been repeatedly convicted of other crimes, was blowing the whistle on the issue.

Musk called for a new national inquiry into the rape gangs, as did some politicians. Starmer initially said an inquiry had taken place and the recommendations needed to be implemented, but later changed his position and backed the calls.

Starmer told the BBC that another transparent inquiry would help improve public confidence in authorities. “That, to me, is a practical, common-sense way of doing politics,” he said.

A preliminary report released in June by Baroness Louise Casey said data on the issue was poor and in many cases non-existent, which made determining whether any ethnic group was overrepresented very difficult.

“If you look at the data on child exploitation, suspects and offenders, it is disproportionately Asian heritage,” Casey said. “If you look at the data for child abuse, it is not disproportionate, and it is white men.”

Following Casey’s report, then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government had accepted the report’s recommendations, including the strengthening of rape law and protection for children.

Speaking in the House of Commons in June, Cooper added: “While much more robust national data is needed, we cannot and must not shy away from these findings, because, as Baroness Casey says, ignoring the issues, not examining and exposing them to the light, allows the criminality and depravity of a minority of men to be used to marginalise whole communities.”

The men are suspected of of being ‘foreign operatives’ for Hamas and will appear in court Thursday, prosecutors say.

German authorities have arrested three men suspected of preparing a serious act of violence against Jewish targets in Germany, allegedly on behalf of the Palestinian group Hamas.

Prosecutors say they suspect the three men of being “foreign operatives” for Hamas and of being involved in procuring firearms and ammunition for attacks targeting Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany.

“In the course of today’s arrests, various weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle and several pistols, as well as a considerable amount of ammunition, were found,” the federal prosecutors said in a statement.

The three men, identified under German privacy laws only as German citizen Abed Al G, Wael FM, born in Lebanon, and German citizen Ahmad I, were arrested in Berlin on Wednesday. A security source said the three were in their 30s or 40s.

The suspects are set to appear in court on Thursday, when a judge will determine whether the trio will be held in custody before trial.

Hamas is designated as a “terrorist” organisation by Germany, as well as the European Union (EU) as a whole.

In February, four Hamas members suspected of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe went on trial in Berlin in what prosecutors described as the first court case against members of the Palestinian group in Germany.

“Anti-terrorism” investigators observed the suspects meeting in Berlin for a weapon handover before operational forces intervened and discovered functional weapons, including a Glock pistol, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said.

Forensic technicians are examining the arsenal, and searches have also taken place in the eastern city of Leipzig, where one of the suspects lives. Authorities also conducted a search in Oberhausen in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the spokesperson added.

Germany is one of Israel’s strongest allies due to the legacy of the Holocaust, and security is tight at synagogues and other Jewish institutions. It did not join France, the United Kingdom and several other countries last month in recognising Palestinian statehood.

Hamas has carried out hundreds of attacks against Israeli civilians over the years, but it has rarely operated outside Israel and the Palestinian territories. Questions will likely be raised over whether the suspects were acting on orders from Hamas’s leadership or if they were merely sympathisers with Hamas or the Palestinian cause.

The arrests come as Israel continues its genocidal war on Gaza despite mounting global outcry and repeated appeals for a ceasefire. At the same time, Israel has enforced a crippling aid blockade on the enclave, where most of its two million residents have been displaced multiple times and are now facing famine and extreme hunger.

Israeli forces have killed at least 66,148 Palestinians since the assault began nearly two years ago, according to local health officials, though experts warn the true toll could be three times higher.

The arrests also took place as Hamas said it would study US President Donald Trump’s peace proposal to end the war.

Tens of thousands of people have also recently rallied in Berlin, protesting German support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Demonstrators marched over the weekend following a call from a broad coalition of some 50 groups, including pro-Palestinian organisations, Medico International, Amnesty International, and the opposition Left Party, for a large demonstration.

They demanded “an end to German complicity” in Israel’s war and called for “an end to all military cooperation with Israel,” including “the import, export, and transit of weapons, ammunition, and other military equipment”.

Like many young men these days, Kamaldeep Dhanoa, a lanky 17-year-old, knew he wanted to do something with his life, be a part of something, but didn’t quite know what that meant.

Coming up with a career was important. But even more, it was finding the right friends — discovering what he wanted to be a part of.

He did both when he joined Improve Your Tomorrow, a mentorship organization for teenage boys and young men — that vulnerable, chronically online demographic from which Charlie Kirk drew many of his most ardent supporters, and where so much of our societal angst is focused in the wake of his death.

Now a senior at Florin High School in a suburb outside Sacramento, Dhanoa has a plan to become a paramedic, and more importantly, has those friendships that help him feel not just connected, but included and valued.

His something.

“I just know I have brothers around me,” he told me Tuesday. “We’re always with each other. It gives you, like, a sense of security. So if you’re feeling down, you could always, always rely on them.”

Dhanoa was hanging out in his school’s gym with Gov. Gavin Newsom, who dropped by to announce the California Men’s Service Challenge, an effort to recruit 10,000 Golden State males to serve as mentors to boys such as Dhanoa, so more boys can find their something.

It’s a worthy effort and before you jump to thinking it’s a reaction to Kirk, I’ll point out that 10 years ago, California’s first partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, made a documentary about the crisis of connection and identity facing young men, “The Mask You Live In.”

Recently, her husband caught up.

To be fair, a lot of us have been slow on the uptake when it comes to understanding why so many young men seem drawn to the obvious loneliness and disconnection of chronically online lives.

Kamaldeep Dhanoa, 17, and Michael Lynch helped Gov. Gavin Newsom announce his new statewide initiative to engage more men in volunteer and mentorship work.

(Anita Chabria/Los Angeles Times)

“Touch grass” has become a generation’s cultural shorthand to describe both the isolation and cure for people who seem so deep into a virtual world that the real one has lost meaning. It’s a dismissive way of looking at a problem that doesn’t begin and end with boys.

But, if we didn’t see it earlier, Kirk’s killing has made it clear that there are too many boys that need to be pulled back from the brink of a very bad something. One that is less about left or right and more about exactly who and what those boys stumble upon inside those ethereal spaces that most parents can’t even find, much less understand.

“We’ve got to get these kids back,” Newsom said. “They’re very susceptible young men. They’re very vulnerable online.”

Even more concerning, when the nihilism of the darkest corners of the internet catches up to their psyches, “young people weaponize those grievances,” Newsom said — whether that anger turns inward or outward.

Suicide among young men has increased. In 2023, the male suicide rate was about 23 deaths per 100,000 men, nearly four times higher than for women, a number that has been climbing for years (albeit with some slight dips). Sadly, women attempt suicide more often, but men have a higher rate of completion, often because they use more deadly means such as guns.

But lonely boys are also more prone to commit violence on others, maybe especially when they mix their anger with politics. Once recent study by social epidemiologist Julia Schleimer at the University of Washington School of Public Health found that individuals who reported having few social connections were, “more likely than others to support political violence or be personally willing to engage in it in one form or another.”

For reference, about 15% of men have no close friendships, according to a recent poll by the Survey Center on American Life. Newsom puts that figure even higher for young men, with “one in four men under 30 years old reporting that they have no close friends, a five-fold increase since 1990.”

Kirk stepped into that gap, providing meaning and belonging not just through his podcasts, where he was best known, but through the grassroots Turning Point USA organization that gave thousands of young people (of both sexes) both an ideology and, equally as important, real-world connections and events.

“Obviously Charlie Kirk was a master at not only the work he did online, but offline, and his capacity to organize and engage,” Newsom said.

Whether you agreed with Kirk’s views or not (and I did not agree on many points, including matters of race, sexual orientation, immigration or the meaning of patriotism), he created that something that is missing for so many young people. He created a vision of an America that needed to be saved, and could be saved, through a dedication to a certain kind of family and a certain kind of faith. As Newsom described it of his own effort, young people don’t just want a cause. They want to feel invested, they want to feel an “obligation to give back.”

If Newsom’s recent foray into Trump-esque social media proves anything, it’s that he’s willing to learn, even emulate, success — wherever he finds it. Newsom is trying to offer the belonging that Kirk supplied, seeped not in the exclusion and rigidity that Kirk embodied, but in California values.

“It’s about building an inclusive community of all different kinds of voices,” Michael Lynch told me of the California Challenge. He’s the co-founder and chief executive of Improve Your Tomorrow, the organization Dhanoa belongs to.

Lynch said kids get all kinds of benefits from mentors, but when he asks what those are, the sentence usually starts, “Now that I have friends…. “

The outcome of the effort to bring boys out of the virtual world is all about who those friends are, who pulls them out.

Our boys don’t just need to touch grass, they need to be around men who don’t seek to impose values, but teach them how to craft their own, how to believe in themselves before they believe in something someone is selling.

“What the world needs is your authenticity,” Newsom told a teenage journalist who covered the event for the school newspaper. “And so I just hope we take a deep breath and discover the most important, powerful thing in the world, and that’s who you are.”

If Newsom’s effort inspires just one good man to step up and help a kid figure that out — who they are, and how to believe in themselves first and forever — it will be something.

SALT LAKE CITY — Authorities in Utah say two men have been arrested on suspicion of placing an incendiary device under a news media vehicle in Salt Lake City. The bomb didn’t go off.

Police and fire department bomb squads responded Friday when a suspicious device was found under the vehicle parked near an occupied building.

Investigators determined the bomb “had been lit but failed to function as designed,” according to court records cited by CBS affiliate KUTV on Sunday.

The FBI identified two suspects and served a search warrant at a home in the Magna neighborhood west of the city’s downtown. Two men, ages 58 and 31, were arrested and could face charges related to weapons possession and threats of terrorism, ABC affiliate KTVX reported Sunday.

Neighboring homes were evacuated during the search, which turned up explosives and “explosive-related components,” firearms, illegal narcotics and other paraphernalia, court records say. Authorities say they also found at least two devices that turned out to be hoax weapons of mass destruction.

There was no information about a possible motive and the relationship between the two suspects wasn’t immediately known.

News media have descended on Salt Lake City following last week’s killing of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in nearby Orem.

AMIR KHAN fears Canelo Alvarez has lost his hunger for boxing – leaving Terence Crawford ready to feast. 

Canelo defends his undisputed super-middleweight titles against Crawford on Saturday night – which will be the 68th bout of his iconic career. 

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The red-haired boxing hero – who was bullied for his ginger hair earning him the nickname Canelo, which translates to cinnamon in Spanish – turned pro aged just 15. 

And now two decades later the 35-year-old is the sport’s top attraction.

He is on course to become a BILLIONAIRE and has world titles in four division’s clogging up his trophy cabinet. 

So Khan – who was beaten in his retirement fight against Kell Brook in 2022 – reckons Canelo has lost the same fire which burnt him in their 2016 clash. 

Khan, 38, told SunSport: “I think that Crawford takes the fight in my opinion.

“I like Canelo and he’s very respectful but the reason why I think this is because Crawford’s a fresher fighter.

“I’ve just started seeing little things in Canelo in the last couple of fights where he moves more.

“I just don’t think he’s got the fire in the belly like he used to or have that killer instinct like before.

Canelo vs Crawford – All the info

IT’S finally time – one of the biggest boxing matches EVER takes place THIS WEEKEND.

Two of boxing’s GOATs will meet in the ring as they fight for pound-for-pound supremacy and the super-middleweight crown.

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Terence Crawford have been fixtures in the top of the rankings for years and are considered among the best to ever do it.

Unbeaten Crawford, who beat Israil Madrimov to win the light-middleweight title last time out, hasn’t fought for a year.

He is jumping up two weight divisions to meet Canelo, having spent most of his career weighing in even lighter.

Mexican favourite Canelo has scored title defences over Edgar Berlanga and William Scull since Crawford was last inside a ring.

Here’s all the info for this must-watch fight…

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CANELO VS CRAWFORD: ALL THE DETAILS YOU NEED AHEAD OF THE FIGHT OF THE CENTURY

“I don’t think he has that killer instinct now. Normally they have that killer instinct where they wanna go for the kill and hurt the guy, but I think he’s calm and he’s a made man.

“I know how that is. Like when I fought against Brook, you don’t have that fire in your belly like you are coming up and you wanna achieve something.

“You know when you’ve achieved everything – which Canelo in my opinion has when it comes down to belts, titles, and also weight categories and also financially – that fire in the belly just goes and I know you might say that it might not go, it’s automatically it’s gonna happen.

“Your mind’s a very strong muscle that it just takes over your whole body.” 

Khan boxed to an early lead against Canelo almost ten years ago – before a frightening right hand in the sixth robbed him of his momentum and senses. 

The former super-lightweight champ was caught so hard he was out for the count well before the he even hit the deck. 

Khan said: “I don’t know if he’s got the same kind of power that he had then, but in my opinion, he does hit very, very hard.

“I mean, even before I hit the floor, I was probably knocked out, to be honest with you. That’s how hard he hit me. So that just shows pure power.

“The guy’s very strong and he can definitely hurt someone really badly. But like I said, I don’t know how much power he has left in him now.

“Obviously, as you get older, the power’s not gonna be the same, but I’m sure it’s still very strong.”

Crawford, 37, beat a past-his best Khan in 2019 but the pair reunited as training partners three years later before the Brook grudge bout. 

That was at the 10st 7lb welterweight limit – but Crawford now finds himself up THREE divisions to challenge for Canelo’s 12st throne. 

I just don’t think he’s got the fire in the belly like he used to or have that killer instinct like before.

Amir Khan on Canelo

But Khan – who had Crawford in the corner the night he lost to Brook – warned the unbeaten American can hang with the biggest and best of them. 

He said: “Crawford is a bigger guy in camp. He’s always a stronger and bigger guy. I’ve seen him take down heavyweights.

“The guy, he’s a good wrestler and also he’s just a very strong guy. He’s got a strong upper body.

“So yeah, I don’t think anyone’s gonna give him any problems, especially Canelo, I don’t think Canelo’s gonna give him any problems.

“Look, you make them wrestle, I guarantee you Crawford will take Canelo down easy. That’s how strong he is.

“He’s a very good strong wrestler as well. But obviously that shows how much strength he has, core strength is solid. He’s a solid guy.”

The pound-for-pound greats meet at the Las Vegas Raiders’ 65,000-seat NFL stadium – streamed live on Netflix. 

It has the hallmarks of a bonafide super-fight for the ages – one Khan reckons cannot disappoint. 

He said: It’s gonna be a fantastic fight though still regardless because one thing I can say about both fighters is that they’re not gonna sit back and they’re not gonna put on a performance, they’re gonna fight till they die.

“But I just feel that Crawford has that little bit more than Canelo.”

TWO men have died while unloading glass panels from a lorry in a freak accident.

The horror unfolded in the car park of one of England’s oldest football clubs, Hitchin Town FC, on Saturday.

Emergency services were called at around 2pm, and paramedics sadly pronounced two men dead at the scene.

A third man was treated for minor injuries.

Hertfordshire Police confirmed the men had been “unloading glass panels from a lorry” when tragedy struck.

A spokesperson for the force confirmed: “Police attended an incident in the Hitchin Town Football Club car park at approximately 2pm on Saturday 6 September, following reports that two men were seriously injured.

“The men, who were unloading glass panels from a lorry parked in the overflow car park, were injured in the process.

“Two men sadly died at the scene. Their next of kins have been informed and are being supported by officers. A third man sustained minor injuries and was treated at the scene.

“The incident is currently under investigation and enquiries continue.”

Hitchin Town Football Club has been contacted for comment.

Hitchin is the childhood home of several Premier League names, including Kevin Phillips and Jack Wilshere.

The club are seventh in Southern League Division One Central and through to the second-round qualifying of the FA Cup.

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In “Task,” premiering Sunday on HBO, Brad Ingelsby, creator of the 2021 miniseries “Mare of Easttown,” which introduced the wider world to Wawa and the Delco accent, returns with another tale of crime and family in the rural-suburban wilds west of Philadelphia. Where women were at the center of “Mare,” men are the subject here — a cop and a criminal, symmetrically arranged — messed-up middle-aged single fathers who care about their kids.

Both have been loaded with tragedy. Robbie (Tom Pelphrey), whose wife took off a year before, has a much-missed dead brother in whose house he’s living with his two kids and young adult niece (Emilia Jones as Maeve, a secret hero); he’s a garbage collector with a sideline in robbing drug houses, which he identifies through their trash. This routine has been successful enough that he and his partner, fellow trashman Cliff (Raúl Castillo), have drawn the attention of the authorities.

FBI agent Tom (Mark Ruffalo) has a dead wife (Mireille Enos, seen briefly in flashback), a son in jail he can’t bring himself to visit and a semi-estranged adult daughter (Phoebe Fox); on leave from field work, he’s been manning the agency table at job fairs. That changes when his boss (Martha Plimpton), much to his displeasure, calls him back as a substitute to lead a task force into the drug house robberies, already assembled by his predecessor from other branches of law enforcement. There’s Lizzie (Alison Oliver), young and distractable; Aleah (Thuso Mbedu), terse and focused; and Anthony (Fabien Frankel), loose and Italian.

It’s clear from the guns that both sides pack, and the fact that Robbie has been stealing from criminals — notably a drug-dealing motorcycle gang, the Dark Hearts, which has its own explosive internal business — that something is going to go fatally wrong sooner or later. (If that’s a spoiler, you are blessed with a special brand of naivete.) The bikers, who are not at all nice, though painted with some recognizably human qualities — represented primarily by Jamie McShane as Perry and Sam Keeley as Jayson — are the usual screen collection of exclusively good-looking men and women, though to be fair, this is true of Tom’s team too — Tom perhaps excepted. (Ruffalo put on weight for the role, and wants you to notice.)

In “Task,” Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) is a single father who steals from other criminals.

(Peter Kramer / HBO)

Indeed, the predominant experience of watching “Task” is waiting for the next terrible thing to happen, which may be called suspense or dramatic tension, but in the event makes for an often depressing watch, especially since the safety (physical, psychological) of young children is involved. (That can feel a little cheap, dramaturgically, like endangering a kitten, but it works.) One is grateful for anything relatively ordinary — Lizzie and Anthony dancing in a bar, Tom’s younger daughter, Emily (Silvia Dionicio) connecting with a co-worker at the custard ice stand. (Another item for the regional reference bucket.)

In the compare-and-contrast structure of the series, we learn that Robbie, though he is a fount of bad decisions, is the more optimistic, proactive of the two characters — he has a dream, in the form of a brochure, regarding a Canadian island, where he would like to spirit his family away. (He’s doing the crime to afford it.) He’s interested enough in finding “a life companion” to open a dating app. Tom, who had been a priest for eight years before losing the spirit and joining the FBI, still in mourning for his wife, drinks too much, is packing a paunch and can’t connect with Emily, the only family member left in the house.

Both have connections to nature. Tom, who grows vegetables, is a birdwatcher; Robbie keeps chickens. Both are essentially tenderhearted, which is perhaps not the most practical quality for their professions, but necessary for the story — we need to like them. They’re like one and a half sides of the same coin.

In among the criminal antics and police work is a lot of talk about life and death and God, guilt and forgiveness. Ingelsby thinks big. The title to one episode, “Out Beyond Ideas of Wrongdoing and Rightdoing There Is a River,” paraphrases the 13th century Persian poet Rumi, and water is a motif — diving into it, swimming in it, hanging around by it. Birds, too, which show up in random shots and, like the lakes and rivers, function as a sort of psychic relief for the viewer and metaphors for the story. When Tom, speaking to Robbie, identifies a certain bird as a “vagrant … a bird that strayed outside its normal range, strayed so far that it’s forgotten how to find its way home,” that is not really about birds. The writing can be a little on the nose, but better a violent story with ideas than one with none.

For all my reservations when it comes to this sort of drama, it’s very well made and very well acted, and, where many crime stories settle for sensational nihilism, “Task” does want to leave you feeling … pretty good. Not horrible. Hopeful. I trust that hasn’t spoiled it for you.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Five men deported by the United States to Eswatini in July have been held in a maximum-security prison in the African nation for seven weeks without charge or explanation and with no access to legal counsel, their lawyers said Tuesday.

They accused the Trump administration’s third-country deportation program of denying their clients due process.

The New York-based Legal Aid Society said that it was representing one of the men, Jamaican national Orville Etoria, and that he had been “inexplicably and illegally” sent to Eswatini when his home country was willing to accept him back.

That contradicted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which said when it deported the five men with criminal records that they were being sent to Eswatini because their home countries refused to take them. Jamaica’s foreign minister has also said that the Caribbean country didn’t refuse to take back deportees.

Etoria was the first of at least 20 deportees sent by the U.S. to various African nations in the last two months to be identified publicly.

Expanding deportation program

The deportations are part of the Trump administration’s expanding third-country program to send migrants to countries in Africa that they have no ties with to get them off U.S. soil.

Since July, the U.S. has deported migrants to South Sudan, Eswatini and Rwanda, while a fourth African nation, Uganda, says it has agreed to a deal in principle with the U.S. to accept deportees.

Washington has said it wants to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose case has been a flashpoint over President Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, to Uganda after he was wrongly deported to his native El Salvador in March.

Etoria served a 25-year prison sentence and was granted parole in 2021, the Legal Aid Society said, but was now being held in Eswatini’s main maximum-security prison for an undetermined period of time despite completing that sentence.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department said that he was convicted of murder. The agency posted on X in reference to a New York Times report on Etoria, saying that it “will continue enforcing the law at full speed — without apology.”

It didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press.

The Legal Aid Society said that an Eswatini lawyer acting on behalf of all five men being held in prison there has been repeatedly denied access to them by prison officials since they arrived in the tiny southern African nation bordering South Africa in mid-July.

The other four men are citizens of Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen.

‘Indefinite detention’

A separate lawyer representing the two men from Laos and Vietnam said that his clients also served their criminal sentences in the U.S. and had “been released into the community.”

“Then, without warning and explanation from either the U.S. or Eswatini governments, they were arbitrarily arrested and sent to a country to which they have never ever been,” the lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, said in a statement. “They are now being punished indefinitely for a sentence they already served.”

He said that the U.S. government was “orchestrating secretive third-country transfers with no meaningful legal process, resulting in indefinite detention.”

U.S. Homeland Security said those two men had been convicted of charges including child rape and second-degree murder.

A third lawyer, Alma David, said that she represented the two men from Yemen and Cuba who are also being held in the same prison and denied access to lawyers. She said she had been told by the head of the Eswatini prison that only the U.S. Embassy could grant access to the men.

“Since when does the U.S. Embassy have jurisdiction over Eswatini’s national prisons?” she said in a statement, adding the men weren’t told a reason for their detention, and “no lawyer has been permitted to visit them.” David said all five were being held at U.S. taxpayers’ expense.

Secretive deals

The deportation deals the U.S. has struck in Africa have been secretive, and with countries with questionable rights records.

Authorities in South Sudan have given little information on where eight men sent there in early July are being held or what their fate might be. They were also described by U.S. authorities as dangerous criminals from South Sudan, Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The five men in Eswatini are being held at the Matsapha Correctional Complex. It’s the same prison where Eswatini, which is ruled by a king as Africa’s last absolute monarchy, has imprisoned pro-democracy campaigners amid reports of abuse that includes beatings and the denial of food to inmates.

Eswatini authorities said when the five men arrived that they were being held in solitary confinement.

Another seven migrants were deported by the U.S. to Rwanda in mid-August, Rwandan authorities said. They didn’t say where they are being held or give any information on their identities.

The deportations to Rwanda were kept secret at the time and only announced last week.

Imray writes for the Associated Press.

Aug. 26 (UPI) — Two men were publicly caned in Indonesia Tuesday for kissing in a park.

In the city of Banda Aceh, the two men, ages 20 and 21, were convicted of “having consensual same-sex relations,” because they kissed and hugged in a Taman Sari Park bathroom on June 16. A panel of judges at the Banda Aceh Sharia Court had found them guilty of violating the Islamic Criminal Code, according to Amnesty International.

The men were held in custody during the trial, which took place behind closed doors.

While these men were sentenced to 76 strikes with canes, sometimes the courts can sentence people to up to 200 lashes. Those crimes include having consensual intimacy or sexual activity for unmarried couples, consensual sex outside marriage, same-sex sexual relations, consumption or sale of alcohol, and gambling.

Aceh, in Sumatra, is the only province in Indonesia that criminalizes consensual same-sex acts because it has special autonomy status that allows it to follow the Islamic Criminal Code since 2015. Sharia law has been in place since 2001.

There are also regular citizen’s arrests in the district. The Sharia law allows people to turn suspects over to the Sharia police.

“This public flogging of two young men under Aceh’s Islamic Criminal Code for consensual sex is a disturbing act of state-sanctioned discrimination and cruelty,” Amnesty International’s Regional Research Director Montse Ferrer said in a statement. “This punishment is a horrifying reminder of the institutionalized stigma and abuse faced by LGBTQ+ individuals in Aceh.

“Intimate relationships between consenting adults should never be criminalized. Punishments such as flogging are cruel, inhuman and degrading and may amount to torture under international law,” Ferrer said.

Ferrer called for the Indonesian government and Aceh people to immediately halt the caning practice.

“Indonesia, as a member of the UN Human Rights Council and a state party to the Convention Against Torture, must align its laws — including in Aceh — with its constitutional commitments to equality and non-discrimination. The criminalization of same-sex conduct and corporal punishment has no place in a just and humane society,” she added

Kane Williamson and Steve Smith help London Spirit keep their slim qualification hopes alive with a staggering 47-run victory over Southern Brave, who struggled to chase 187 at Lord’s.

MATCH REPORT: Spirit crush poor Brave to keep slim hopes alive

Available to UK users only.

A WOMAN has revealed that men are “ashamed” to be seen in public with her because of her plus-size body – but says she always gets the last laugh.

Alex Aspasia is well-known for her body-positive attitude, where she embraces her curves no matter what.

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But when it comes to dating, it’s proving to be quite a challenge.

The 31-year-old, who got divorced last year, has been searching high and low for Mr Right – and while she’s had many suitors, there’s been a recurring issue.

They are “too ashamed” to be seen in public with her.

In a clip, which has racked up 987,000 views and over 199,000 likes, she revealed how she gets the last laugh by staying single.

“I’ve been back in the dating world and it’s been an eye-opening experience,” the size 26 model, who is 6ft tall and weighs 385lbs, told What’s The Jam.

“Despite the online hate I receive, I’ve found that plenty of men are interested in dating me.

“For most, that interest stays behind closed doors, as if they’re ashamed to be seen with a larger woman.

“I dated one guy who admitted that he doesn’t want anyone to know about us.

“And said that his family wouldn’t approve because of my size.

“It’s pretty traumatising when you get to know someone, develop feelings, and then they tell you you’re not good enough to be introduced on their arm simply because of how much you weigh.

“I’ve had professional athletes and rappers in my DMs, which proves that the idea you have to fit into a certain body to be liked isn’t true.”

Alex, who hails from Miami, US, says that men are “drawn” to her “unapologetic confidence” as it’s “rare” to find that nowadays – especially in those plus-size.

She said: “I know that kind of confidence can be magnetic.

“But I’m looking for someone who wants me for who I am, not my curves.

“I want a relationship built on genuine connection, not just attraction.”

In the video, Alex sits by herself in a restaurant, with the caption: “Another Saturday night alone because men love fat girls in [their] bed and not in public.”

Users have flocked to the comments to share their reactions.

“Don’t let them have you in private if they don’t want you in public,” someone commented. [sic]

Ana said: “Ur too beautiful for them either way.” [sic]

“So true. But claim to love big girls only to hide us,” Nicole added. [sic]

Brooke said: “Facts. My 20s were full of closet chubby chasers. I found a man who loves every inch of me in the bedroom and in public. He DGAF what anybody thinks. He’s proud to have me.” [sic]

“If one man doesn’t want you, five others will. Don’t ever settle,” added Shelly.

Alex added: “Dating as a plus-size woman is harder because men just lust after you.

“And the majority want to experience you, but don’t know how to fit you into their world because of the harsh judgment we receive.

“I still have hope that I will find somebody, and I want to tell people not to settle.

“It’s complicated.

“But I refuse to entertain anyone who would keep me a secret.”

Parakou, Benin – Until a few years ago, the sound of Iliyasu Yahuza’s matte black Qlink X-Ranger 200 motorbike would bring the neighbourhood children out into the street. They would abandon their games and rush to the roadside, waving excitedly and shouting his name.

Now, they scatter and hide.

And it is not just the children; across all walks of life in the remote villages of northern Benin, the rumble of a motorbike engine now stirs fear and terror as it’s become synonymous with armed fighters roaming the region.

For Yahuza, a 34-year-old trader who has spent years navigating the bumpy roads between remote farms and local markets, the switch “cuts deep”.

His motorbike was once a symbol of success in his community in rural Brignamaro, some 500km (310 miles) away from the capital city, Porto-Novo. Now, he feels it’s a liability that marks him as a potential threat.

“People have begun seeing me as a member of the armed group launching attacks in this region,” Yahuza told Al Jazeera.

“I no longer feel secure riding a motorbike.”

In recent years, motorcycles have become the preferred mode of transport for armed groups operating not only in Benin, but across the Sahel from Burkina Faso to Mali to Niger. Fighters on motorbikes have changed the face of conflict, experts say.

According to a 2023 report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), motorbikes are “one of the most widely trafficked commodities in the Sahel”, deeply embedded in the region’s criminal economy, and “indispensable to the violent extremist armed groups” operating in West Africa’s borderlands.

In the process, public sentiment towards these vehicles, and those who drive them, has shifted, with a shadow now cast over daily riders like Yahuza.

Pride before the fall

Life in Brignamaro used to move to a different rhythm years ago, Yahuza remembers. Children’s laughter chased the echo of his Qlink X-Ranger – at that time a rarity in these parts – as his peers looked on in admiration and delight.

The shift began in 2023, when approximately 12 suspected armed fighters, all mounted on motorbikes, attacked his community.

They terrorised the village and kidnapped a known businessman. Throughout that year, similar incidents rippled across northern Benin’s provinces, from Alibori to Tanguita and Materi. The pattern was always the same. Armed men would arrive fast, strike hard, and disappear into the landscape on their versatile machines.

As a businessman dealing in soya beans, maize, and groundnuts, Yahuza had chosen his motorbike for purely practical reasons. The vehicle could navigate the rough terrain connecting scattered farming communities, and would last longer than ordinary motorcycles.

“That was the major reason I chose the motorbike. Also, it lasts longer than an ordinary motorcycle and for that, it takes about two years before I change one,” he explained.

But more recently, practicality has given way to paranoia.

Security forces regularly stop Yahuza, demanding documentation and explanations. Even minor disagreements with neighbours can take on sinister undertones.

“The locals in my community are raising eyebrows at me. I could remember having a minor misunderstanding with a colleague, and he was quick to profile me as a militant,” he recounted.

Weapon of choice

Much like the Toyota pick-up trucks that became synonymous with ISIL (ISIS) fighters in Syria and Iraq more than a decade ago, motorbikes have emerged as the tactical vehicle of choice for Sahelian fighters.

Groups like al-Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), with an estimated 6,000 fighters forming the region’s most heavily armed rebel force, have perfected the art of motorcycle warfare. Fast, nimble, and easy to conceal, these bikes enable hit-and-run tactics perfectly suited to the Sahel’s vast, sparsely populated terrain.

In early 2025 alone, JNIM fighters launched a coordinated campaign of attacks: 30 soldiers killed in Benin, more than 50 people near Kobe in Mali, 44 worshippers in Niger’s Fambita, and 200 troops at Burkina Faso’s Djibo military outpost. In each assault, motorbikes provided the speed and surprise that made these attacks possible.

“Motorbikes have become a critical mobility tool for terrorists, including bandits across the Sahel,” explained Timothy Avele, a counterterrorism expert and managing director of Agent-X Security Limited.

The appeal is multifaceted, according to the expert. “Concealment becomes easier” when fighters can scatter and hide their vehicles. The Sahel’s challenging terrain, with desert expanses, dense forests, and mountainous regions, “favours two-wheeled transport over larger vehicles”. Perhaps most importantly, the economics work in the fighters’ favour.

“Another key factor is the lower fuel cost using motorbikes for their operations and mobility compared to, say, Hilux trucks,” Avele added.

Built to last

In the workshop of Abdulmajeed Yorusunonbi in Tchatchou, some 510km (317 miles) from Porto-Novo, the 31-year-old mechanic swears by the durability of these machines. As a local mechanic, he sees firsthand why armed groups favour these vehicles over ordinary motorcycles.

“The only simple fault motorbikes sometimes get is flat tires. It’s only on rare occasions that you will see the engine needing a repair. Their durability is second to none,” Yorusunonbi noted.

This reliability makes them perfect for rebel operations, where mechanical failure could mean capture or death. But it also means that once acquired, these vehicles remain in the hands of armed fighters for years, multiplying their tactical value.

Like many in his trade, Yorusunonbi has developed his own informal screening system to filter out unscrupulous clients. He watches for telltale signs – customers who pay in cash without haggling, those who avoid eye contact, or groups arriving together. But in a region where poverty is widespread and many legitimate customers share these same traits, certainty remains elusive.

The psychological impact on communities has been profound. Yaru Mako, 41, a farmer in Kerou, 482km (300 miles) from Porto-Novo, told Al Jazeera he now forces himself to believe that whoever drives a motorbike has affiliations with the armed groups. “Because in all the cases of attacks we have had and heard, the perpetrators always used motorbikes. Mostly, they are two persons per motorbike,” he explained.

This suspicion has real consequences. In early 2024, Yahuza found himself detained for hours by soldiers in Kerou who questioned his identity and motives. Only his local connections saved him from a worse fate.

“I was lucky that I know many people who properly identified me as an innocent person,” he said.

Junaidu Woru, a Tanguita resident, voices what many now believe: that non-fighters should abandon motorbikes entirely for their own safety.

“Innocent people should avoid using those bikes for their own safety. Because when an attack happens, and an innocent person drives around the area at that particular time, they can be mistaken for a militant,” he warned.

The underground economy

The flow of motorbikes into the hands of armed groups follows complex routes through West Africa’s porous borders. Benin, once a major importer of motorcycles, saw its official trade disrupted in 2022 when new taxes were imposed, including higher VAT rates and import levies.

Before that, motorcycles were exempt from import duties. The government later imposed customs levies to boost domestic revenue, a fiscally driven move. However, the policy spurred increased smuggling through border hotspots like Malanville and Hillacondji, raising security concerns about untracked vehicles potentially reaching criminal groups in the Sahel.

According to traders in northern Benin, these measures have pushed the trade underground, with buyers increasingly sourcing bikes from neighbouring countries and smuggling them across borders. The motorcycles enter through various routes; from Nigeria across the northern border into Niger, or through Beninese territory, where they are loaded onto pirogues and transported upstream on the River Niger.

In Parakou’s markets, Zubair Sabi sells motorbikes like Yahuza’s Qlink X-Ranger 200 for about 900,000 CFA francs ($1,590). Some models fetch more than one million CFA ($1,770), while others sell for as low as 750,000 CFA ($1,330), prices that put them within reach of well-funded armed groups.

“As a businessman, all I’m interested in is selling my goods,” Sabi said, before acknowledging the moral complexity of his position. “I don’t mind verifying the identity of the customer before selling to them. But I can’t really say who exactly is buying the bikes or what they are using them for.”

Like other traders, Sabi has implemented informal checks, asking for identification, noting suspicious bulk purchases, or refusing sales to unknown customers arriving in groups. Yet, he admits, these measures are far from foolproof.

Governments across the Sahel have responded with blunt instruments, with at least 43 motorcycle bans having been recorded since 2012, according to GI-TOC. Yet these sweeping restrictions often hurt civilians more than armed fighters, cutting off rural communities from markets, clinics and schools.

For traders like Yahuza, the situation presents an impossible dilemma. Without his motorbike, he cannot reach the remote farms where farmers sell their produce. With it, he risks being mistaken for the very criminals terrorising his community.

“It’s not just about riding any more,” he reflected. “It’s about what people think when they see you on it.”

This article is published in collaboration with Egab.

Rizik ran on. Next to him was a young man who spoke to Al Jazeera later, requesting anonymity for his safety.

He said Rizik fell while jumping over a stone wall, hurting his legs, but that when they saw two boys who needed help, Rizik joined the young man in carrying them to safety.

But then Rizik and his friend found themselves surrounded by settlers.

They ran, but just as he dove for cover in the bushes, the friend saw a settler shoot Rizik in the chest.

“The settlers started shouting: ‘Yes! I got you!’” he recalled, describing how several settlers gathered around Rizik as he lay on the ground.

At about the time of the shooting, Rizik had called his family, but the family told others the call lasted only seconds, with no response from Rizik, although they heard shouts in Hebrew in the background.

Rizik’s friend ran for his life down the side of the mountain, heading east.

At 3:18pm, he sent a panicked voice message to local WhatsApp groups, begging for help: “Someone’s been martyred!” he beseeched.

[Audio]: Witness to Muhammad Rizik al-Shalabi’s shooting, believing he’s been killed and sending a voice message calling for help.

Later reconstructions estimated that Rizik may have still been alive at the time, but he was dead by the time search parties were able to access the area to look for him.

Meanwhile, Saif and others were running for their lives further south, headed towards Ain al-Sarara.

As family members confirmed to Al Jazeera, one of those young men was caught along the way and tied up by a gang of about nine settlers.

Witnesses say the settlers repeatedly smashed the young man in the knee with their weapons, then dragged him, tied up, into a car and shot bullets all around him.

Then they threw him to the ground over and over, until the young man was begging them to kill him.

“They said: ‘I’m not going to kill you,’” a friend recalled on TikTok. “‘I’m going to chop off your arms and your legs and throw you on the side of the road like a dog.’”

According to Sinjil activist Ayed Ghafari, among the settlers was Yahariv Mangory, reportedly the leader of the outpost builders in al-Baten, who was carrying an M16 rifle.

Mangory later identified himself in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14 as the “owner” of the al-Baten outposts.

Saif and the others had managed to go up a hill, but at about 3:30pm, they were met by a group of settlers coming downhill and attacked them from above, according to Ghafari, who spoke with the young men.

The settlers were pelting the young men with rocks, with occasional bullets zooming past them as they made their way down the hill.

A settler hit Saif square in the back with a rock, toppling him. He was instantly surrounded by a group of settlers who beat him with clubs and sticks all over, according to witnesses.

Dazed, Saif staggered to his feet after the settlers stopped beating him, heading south down the hill until he came across a big oak tree where a young Palestinian man was hiding.

Battered, he sank to the ground there for the next two and a half hours as the young man tried to reach out to people from Mazraa, asking for help.

Saif was vomiting and struggling to breathe, his condition worsening by the minute.

That was when Muhammad caught word that his big brother was in trouble.

THREE men have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman was found dead.

Police have launched an investigation after Shara Miller, 41, was discovered in Smethwick, West Midlands, on Monday morning.

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Emergency crews rushed to Woodbourn Road after her body was found just after 6.10am.

Despite their best efforts, Shara was tragically confirmed dead at the scene.

Three men, aged 38, 31 and 29, have since been arrested and remain in custody.

Cops believe that Shara was killed in the early hours at the location where her body was found.

West Midlands Police have appealed for anyone with information on Shara’s movements before 1am on Monday to come forward.

Detective Chief Inspector Alastair Orencas from the Homicide Unit said: “We have made some significant progress in our investigation and now have three men in custody.

“However, we still want to hear from anyone who saw Shara or spoke to her in the hours leading up to her death.

“We understand she was involved in sex work around the Soho Road, Birmingham area and believe she may have been driven to Woodburn Road from that location.

“If you have any footage or information, and haven’t yet come forward, please contact us.”

In response, the force has confirmed it will be boosting police presence in the area where Shara was found.

A statement on its website read: “Officers are increasing patrols in the area where Shara was found and around Soho Road as reassurance so please do speak to us about any concerns.

“If you’d rather not tell us who you are, but want to help, you can contact independent charity Crimestoppers 100% anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online

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A POLICE force sent undercover cops jogging to expose vile catcallers who target women on their runs.

Two officers from Surrey Police hit the streets in sportswear to show how often women get harassed while running – and, unsurprisingly, they were “catcalled within minutes”.

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The operation, first reported by LBC, saw undercover officers jogging through known harassment “hotspots” in Reigate, Surrey during the evening rush hour.

Specialist units were close by, ready to step in if the women faced abuse, Surrey Police said.

The two officers were “targeted within minutes” by a man in a large truck who “honked at them and made gestures out the window”, according to LBC.

“These behaviours may not be criminal offences in themselves, but they need to be addressed,” a spokesperson for the force said.

Inspector John Vale said: “One of our officers was honked at within ten minutes – then another vehicle slowed down, beeping and making gestures just 30 seconds later – that’s how frequent it is.

“Someone slowing down, staring, shouting – even if it’s not always criminal – it can have a huge impact on people’s everyday lives and stops women from doing something as simple as going for a run.

“We have to ask: is that person going to escalate? Are they a sexual offender? We want to manage that risk early.”

PC Abby Hayward, who went undercover, said this kind of sexual harassment was a daily reality for women – and leaves her feeling “diminished” and “uncomfortable”.

She said: “This behaviour is either a precursor to something more serious or it’s ignorance, and it’s fixable.

“That’s where our interventions come in: to stop potential repeat offenders or help people understand that what they’re doing isn’t OK.”

Surrey Police said its ‘Jog On’ campaign – launched just four weeks ago – has led to 18 arrests, including for sexual assault and theft.

Inspector Vale said: “We know that this kind of harassment is significantly under reported thanks to a study carried out by Surrey County Council this year, which revealed that of 450 female residents surveyed, 49 per cent never reported.

“To date, we have made a number of interventions following reports of harassment of our plain clothes runners. 

“In these cases, it was deemed appropriate to provide education around anti-social behaviour.

“For repeat offenders or where the behaviour is more serious, we will robustly pursue all criminal justice outcomes. 

“We recognise this is a significant worry for women and girls, and we’ll continue to patrol running routes throughout Redhill.”

He continued: “This type of harassment isn’t just being experienced by communities in Reigate and Banstead, but communities across the whole of Surrey, and it’s unacceptable.

“We have female officers and staff members who have been the subject to such behaviour when off duty. 

“The message I would like to impart to perpetrators is this; your actions will not be tolerated. 

“Please reflect and ask yourself ‘is this how you would treat or want your partner, mother, sister to be treated?”

“The next time you see a female jogger, just think, they could be a police officer with colleagues nearby ready to stop you. Your behaviour is not welcome in Surrey.”

The campaign faced criticism from the Free Speech Union, who called it a “bizarre social psychology experiment” and urged police to “stop hunting pre-crimes”.

Other forces have also taken steps to tackle the sexual harassment of women runners by men.

In 2022, the Met Police launched a buddy system, with officers accompanying a women’s running club in London.

84 per cent of women have been harassed while jogging, according to a 2021 survey by Runner’s World.

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