BBC News with Julie Candler.
The Islamic State group says its militants carried out the suicide bombings on two mosques in Yemen in which more than 130 people were killed. Four bombers wear explosives targeted worshippers in the capital Sanaa during Friday prayers. Both places of worship were used by supporters of the Shiite rebels known as Houthis who seized control of Sanaa last year. Husai Nabakiti, a pro-Houthi activist, described how they got into one of the mosques.
What they did, they put their bombs inside a cast like you know for a broken leg, and that’s why the security couldn’t see what they were hiding inside. That’s why the casualty so high and the number is raising because the mosque was so crowded, and it’s like kids, young man, old man and you know all types of age inside that mosque. From the footage, under videos of that scene it looked like a massacre.
There are reports that the fighters loyal to Al-Qaeda in southern Yemen have taken control of the city of al-Houta. According to sources in the area, militants in pickup trucks flying black flags swept to the city which was provincial capital lying just north of Aden.
A new case of Ebola has been confirmed in Liberia just weeks before it’s due to declare free of the disease. A health official told BBC that a woman admitted for treatment on Thursday had tested positive. Richard Hamilton reports.
When 58 year old Beatrice Yardolo was discharged from a clinic in Monrovia two weeks ago, Liberians held their breath and cross their fingers. She was the last known Ebola patient and the country had 42 days to count down before could be declared free of the virus. Now the work is to get to zero and start again. The outbreak has been described as a perfect storm. It was a cross border epidemic in countries with health systems already weakened by civil war. With one year anniversary of the outbreak of a few days away, there is growing criticism at the international response to the outbreak.
Soldiers from Niger and Chad reported to have discovered at least 70 bodies in a mass grave near the north-eastern Nigerian town of Damasak. The town which lies in Borno state near the border with Niger was only recently retaken from Boko Haram militants. Dani Abraham reports.
The bodies were found just outside Damasak, dumped below a bridge, from where they appeared to have been thrown. It seems to be an execution site. Eyewitnesses have described greasily scenes. Some victims have their throats slits and at least one person had been decapitated. Damasak was seized by the Islamist group in November when insurgents disguised as traders smuggled boxes of guns into the market there. Its recapture was one of the latest setbacks for Boko Haram. Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan has predicted that the militants would be routed and all territory taken back within the month.
World news from the BBC
European Union leaders meeting in Brussels have called for the formation of a government of national unity in Libya, amid fears have grown instability there could become a serious threat to Europe. The North African country has two governments and rally rival militias. Chris Morris reports from Brussel.
We could be hearing along more about the security situation in Libya over the coming month. It’s become the source of serious concern for the European Union. Fighters linked to Jihadist group of Islamic State had established foothold on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. And tens of thousands of illegal migrants often traveling in small boats have set sail for Europe from Libyan territory. The terrorist attack on the museum in Tunisia this week has been linked to Jihadist Groups in Libya as an example of how instability could spread, but options are limited. One senior EU official said recent leader’s plan A was a unity government and if that failed, plan B was to try plan A all over again.
The international agency for research on cancer says glyphosate, one of the most widely used weedkillers in the world, was probably carcinogenic. But the cancer research arm of the world health organization said the new classification was aimed mainly at industrial use for glyphosate, not its use by home gardeners. The agency has said there was limited evidence that herbicide can cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in humans. And there was convincing evidence that glyphosate can cause other cancers in rats and mice.
The Bulgarian Weight-lifting Federation says 11 members of the national team including 3 European champions have tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid. The 8 men and 3 women have been preparing for next month’s European weight lifting championship in Georgia. The Federation president said the steroid may have been an ingredient in the food additive used by the team. Numerous Bulgarian weight lifters have fallen foul of drug authorities.