Armed group attack kills 7 Djiboutian soldiers

According to Djibouti‘s military, seven soldiers were killed in a clash with an armed group at an army base in the country’s north. A statement released on Saturday by the defence ministry, blamed the attack on a splinter group of the Front for the Restoration and Democracy commonly known as FRUD.

The statement said the gang is well known for its odious and criminal acts of terrorising and pillaging remote areas of the east african country, adding that steps were being taken to pursue the attackers.

In 1991, the FRUD – whose recruits mostly hail from the northern Afar community – carried out a rebellion against the government saying it wanted to defend Afar’s interests against the Issas, the other large ethnic group in the country.

However, a peace deal in 1994 saw the group splintered, with one group becoming a member of the governing UMP coalition that backs long-serving President Ismail Omar Guelleh, and the other group has continued to resist the government.