Briefly

ALGERIA

3 days' mourning for ex-leader Bouteflika

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Saturday ordered flags to be flown at half-mast throughout the country for three days in honor of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the official APS news agency reported. The presidency announced that Bouteflika died on Friday aged 84. Bouteflika became Algeria's foreign minister in 1963. He served as president for four consecutive terms until April 2019.

MIDDLE EAST

Israel arrests last of fugitive Palestinians

The Israeli army on Sunday said it has arrested the last two of the six Palestinians who had escaped from a maximum-security prison in northern Israel early this month. The Israeli military wrote on Twitter that the two were caught in an overnight raid in the Israel-occupied West Bank and taken in for questioning. On Sept 6, the six tunneled their way out of Gilboa Prison. The rare jailbreak sparked a string of demonstrations in the West Bank in support of the escapees and to protest against the measures Israel has taken in prisons after the escape.

NIGERIA

10 students released after ransom paid

Gunmen in northern Nigeria have released 10 more kidnapped students after a ransom was paid, but 21 others remain in captivity despite a pledge to release them all, officials said on Sunday. John Hayab, the chairman of the local Christian association, said the kidnappers had collected the money three days ago. The 10 freed students were returned to their parents on Saturday night, he said. Assailants had stormed the Bethel Baptist High School on July 5, seizing at least 120 of the students. Various batches of the students have been released since then, including on Aug 27.

Xinhua - Agencies