World Tour - Terror attacks in Nigeria and the Philippines

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with Africa reporter Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Jihadists take hundreds of hostages in Nigeria—We start today here in Africa. 

AUDIO: [NIGERIAN CROWD]

Boko Haram militants overran a town in Nigeria’s Lake Chad region last week. They opened fire on soldiers guarding the town and took hundreds of villagers hostage.

Local residents fled the area two years ago after a bloody attack and only returned a few weeks ago.

Nigeria’s jihadist conflict has forced almost 2 million people out of their homes. Many have spent years in displacement camps.

Local authorities have been encouraging villagers to return home under military protection. The residents of five major towns have returned since 2018, but local terror groups continue to launch attacks in the Lake Chad region. It is a strategic area that borders four different countries.

Two bombings rock the Philippines—Next, we go to Asia.

AUDIO: [PHILLIPPINES SIRENS]

Islamic fighters set off two bombs on a small island in the Philippines on Monday, killing at least 15 people. Seventy-five others were wounded.

The explosions went off within an hour of each other. One was a suicide bomb. The other was rigged in a motorcycle parked close to two army trucks. The explosions killed both civilians and soldiers.

The troops were part of a special division created to fight a local insurgent group. The insurgents are responsible for piracy, kidnapping, and countless attacks.

Peru disco stampede kills 13—Next, we go to South America.

AUDIO: [PERUVIAN PARENT]

Thirteen people died in a stampede in Peru on Sunday. About 120 people had gathered at a nightclub, despite a pandemic-related ban on large gatherings. Police raided the building and told the partygoers to disperse. Attendees panicked and stampeded for the exit, trampling each other in the rush to get out.

Peru’s president said he was sorry for the relatives of those killed, but he also said the gathering should never have happened.

About 23 people were arrested, and 15 of those tested positive for COVID-19. They’ll spend the next few weeks in quarantine.

Belarus protests continue—Next, we go to Europe.

AUDIO: [BELARUS PROTESTORS]

Police in Belarus arrested multiple protesters on Monday, including a prominent leader in the movement. They also detained the country’s most famous writer, an author who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015 and has supported the protest movement.

Monday marked the 16th straight day of protests against President Alexander Lukashenko. Tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital to challenge the recent election. They claim Lukashenko rigged the outcome to stay in power. He has controlled the government for 26 years, ever since Belarus gained independence from the Soviet Union.

Lukashenko has refused to step down. In a show of force on Sunday, he released a video of himself carrying an AK-47 and wearing a bulletproof vest as he inspected a military checkpoint.

Norway’s chess grand champion—Finally, we end today in Norway. 

AUDIO: He just played knight A4, bringing it to C5. 

Magnus Carlsen just won the most-watched chess championship in the world. Nearly 70 million people tuned in online to watch the competition. It began in April and included several large matches that culminated in the grand finale last week.

In that tie-breaking match, Carlsen beat out his longtime rival, Hikaru Nakamura, to win almost $350,000. The two have had a fierce rivalry that spans more than a decade.

That’s this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

(AP Photo/Martin Mejia) Relatives of one of the victims of a deadly stampede at a disco, mourn outside a morgue in Lima, Peru, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. 

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