The Department of State warns of the risks of traveling to Niger, due to terrorist activity, kidnappings and high crime by extremist groups, including AQIM, Daesh and Boko Haram. Terrorist organizations, armed robbers and smugglers operate in the areas bordering Mali and Libya and throughout northern Niger.
On March 3, after a spate of deadly attacks, the Nigerien government declared a state of emergency for seven departments of the Tillabéri and Tahoua regions bordering Mali.
The US Department of State warns against traveling to the far-eastern region of Mauritania due to the activities of terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Mourabitoun and Daesh.
The terrorist organizations AQIM, al-Mourabitoun and Daesh and affiliates have declared their intention to attack foreign targets in North and West Africa, Mauritania’s geographical region. In recent years, AQIM has kidnapped and murdered private citizens and attacked foreign diplomatic and gendarme military installations in Mauritania.
In Paris, a man fired shots at a police bus on the Champs-Élysées on April 20, killing one officer and wounding two others. The man was shot and killed on the scene. Police identified the shooter as a resident of Paris who had a criminal history. He had been incarcerated in the early 2000s for the attempted murder of two police officers.
In Budapest, Hungary, on April 10, at least 80,000 people peacefully protested against a proposed law that will force one of the most prestigious universities in Hungary, Central European University (CEU), to close. It was the largest protest to take place in Hungary since the current prime minister, Viktor Orban, took office in 2010.
The law requires that foreign-funded universities each must have a campus in their home country as well as in Hungary. CEU, partially funded by the Hungarian-born American George Soros, has a campus only in Hungary.
In Venezuela, at least 28 people were killed during massive protests against the presidency of Nicolas Maduro that, at press time, had been ongoing since the Venezuelan supreme court tried to invalidate the National Assembly on March 30. That order was later reversed. Violent clashes occurred between opposition protesters and security forces as well as between pro- and anti-Maduro groups.
The US Department of State warns that travel to all areas of Afghanistan remains unsafe due to the ongoing risk of kidnapping, banditry, militant and insurgent attacks, suicide bombings, armed rivalry between political and tribal groups, military combat operations, and land mines.
Extremists associated with various militant groups, such as the Taliban, Daesh and other armed opposition groups, are active throughout the country. Commercial entities, restaurants, hotels and airports may be targeted.
The US Department of State continues to warn that Pakistan is experiencing terrorist violence. Evidence suggests that some victims of terrorist activity have been targeted because they are Americans.
In the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of northeastern Pakistan, an improvised explosive device placed in a marketplace in the Kurram Valley killed at least 25 people and injured at least 87 others on Jan. 20.
In the Philippines’ Central Visayas region, four Filipino security officers were killed during fighting with militants on the popular tourist resort island of Bohol on April 11. Five militants were also killed. The gunmen had gone upriver in three fast boats to a remote village near Inabanga, and the officers showed up to investigate.
The Islamist militant group Abu Sayyaf, an ally of Daesh, is suspected of perpetrating the attack. Abu Sayyaf operates out of the island of Mindanao, the country’s southernmost major island. Bohol is just north of Mindanao.
A man drove a semi truck into pedestrians along Drottninggatan, a popular shopping street in central Stockholm, Sweden, on April 7, killing five people and wounding eight others. A suspicious device was found in the abandoned truck and destroyed.
The attacker, identified as an Uzbek national who had been denied Swedish residency in December 2016, was arrested a few days later and admitted to the crime. Though no group claimed responsibility for the attack, evidence showed that the suspect had expressed interest in the Islamist militant group Daesh.
A bomb placed on board a Metro train in St. Petersburg, Russia, was detonated between stops on April 3, killing 14 people and injuring 64 others. The train operator was hailed as a hero for continuing to the next Metro station after the blast, allowing passengers to escape and rescue workers to reach the injured. A second bomb was discovered in another Metro station and defused.