Homeland Security News

Uzbekistan has detained a returnee with United States citizenship, accusing him of being a former Islamist militant, the Central Asian nation’s state news agency, UzA, reported on Monday.

Uzbek-born Zokir Aliyev, 46, U.S. citizen since 2014, was detained on June 16 in the southern Qashqadaryo province, UzA said, citing the State Security Service.

It said Aliyev had been on a state security wanted list since 2005 over his affiliation with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a militant movement born in the 1990s out of an insurgency in the former Soviet republic.

IMU fighters later fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan and UzA said Aliyev had trained there.

The U.S. embassy in Tashkent had no immediate comment on Monday.

Read more:  Reuters

Two suicide bombers have attacked a town in north-eastern Nigeria only hours after the country's army chief urged displaced residents to return home because it was safe.

The blasts hit the town of Damboa in Borno state on Saturday evening and residents say at least 31 people died.

The explosions were followed up by rockets fired from outside the town.

Boko Haram militants are suspected. Army chief Lt Gen Tukur Buratai had said they were no longer a threat.

"Let me use this opportunity to call on the good people of northern Borno... to return to their communities which have long been liberated by our gallant troops," he said at an inauguration ceremony for gunboats earlier on Saturday.

A four-month military operation started on 1 May to expel Boko Haram insurgents from northern Borno and the Lake Chad region.

Read more:  BBC News