MOSCOW — A deputy chief of Russia’s military intelligence agency was shot and wounded in Moscow on Friday in an attack that follows a series of assassinations of senior military officers that Russia has blamed on Ukraine.
Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev was hospitalized after being shot several times by an unidentified assailant at an apartment building in northwestern Moscow, Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement.
She didn’t say who could be behind the attack on the 64-year-old who has served as the first deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, since 2011.
He was decorated with the Hero of Russia medal for his role in Moscow’s military campaign in Syria and in June 2023 was shown on state TV speaking to mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin when his Wagner Group seized the military headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don during his short-lived mutiny.
The shooting came a day after Russian, Ukrainian, and U.S. negotiators wrapped up two days of talks in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, aimed at ending the nearly 4-year-old war in Ukraine. The Russian delegation was led by Alekseyev’s boss, military intelligence chief Adm. Igor Kostyukov.
President Vladimir Putin was informed about the attack, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who added that law enforcement agencies need to step up protection of senior military officers during the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities haven’t commented on the attack.
Asked about the shooting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said it would be up to law enforcement agencies to pursue the investigation but described it as an apparent “terrorist act” by Ukraine intended to derail peace talks.
The business daily Kommersant said the attacker, posing as a delivery person, shot the general twice in the stairway of his apartment building, wounding him in the foot and the arm. Alekseyev tried to wrest away the gun and was shot again in the chest before the attacker fled, the report said.
Alekseyev, who was born in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union, rose steadily through the ranks to lead operations of Russian military intelligence in Syria, Ukraine, and elsewhere.
He was sanctioned by Washington for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and also faced sanctions in the U.K. and the European Union over his alleged role in the 2018 poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter with the nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury, England.
Since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russian authorities have blamed Kyiv for several assassinations of military officers and public figures in Russia. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some of them.
In December, a car bomb killed Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff.
In April, another senior Russian military officer, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff, was killed by a bomb placed in his car parked near his apartment building just outside Moscow.
A Russian man who previously lived in Ukraine pleaded guilty to carrying out the attack and said he had been paid by Ukraine’s security services.
Days after Moskalik’s killing, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he received a report from the head of Ukraine’s foreign intelligence agency on the “liquidation” of top Russian military figures, adding that “justice inevitably comes” although he didn’t mention Moskalik’s name.
In December 2024, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building. Kirillov’s assistant also died. Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for the attack.
An undocumented immigrant is seeking $1 million in damages after he says he was riding his bike in Melrose Park, Ill., when a U.S. Border Patrol agent suddenly tackled him, placed him in a chokehold and punched his head.
A Chicago resident says that federal agents caused $30,000 worth of property damage when they broke a lock on his wrought-iron gate and scaled a wooden fence to chase after construction workers repairing his Victorian-era home.
A Columbia University student and activist who spent 104 days in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center is demanding $20 million over what he says was a false arrest.
All three should expect a long and difficult fight under the current legal landscape, lawyers warn.
These and scores of other claims expected to arise out of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration are winding through a bureaucratic process mandated under the Federal Tort Claims Act. It is the primary legal recourse for people seeking compensation for property damage, injuries and even deaths allegedly caused by federal agencies and their employees.
First, individuals must fill out a form and submit it for review by the agency that they say caused the harm. Agencies such as ICE and Customs and Border Protection have six months to deny a claim, offer a settlement, or not respond at all. Only then can people sue in court under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
But these cases are different from civil rights lawsuits. Judges, not juries, decide the outcome. Awarded damages are likely to be much lower. And individual officers can’t be named as defendants.
“It’s absolutely bonkers,” said Brian Orozco, a Chicago attorney for Ricardo Aguayo Rodriguez, the bike-riding immigrant who was hospitalized and is now detained, awaiting deportation to Mexico. “If a Chicago police officer abuses my civil rights, I can file a claim immediately. I don’t have to wait six months [to file a lawsuit]. I have a right to a jury trial. I don’t have that when I’m up against the federal government. It’s scary to me how protected these federal agents are.”
After the Civil War, Congress passed a law that established the right to sue local and state officials for the violation of constitutional rights. Federal officials weren’t included in the law, though a 1971 Supreme Court ruling established precedence for such lawsuits. But legal experts said that the court’s decisions within the past decade have narrowed that path and made it nearly impossible to successfully sue federal agents for civil rights violations.
“It is arguably harder today in 2026 than at any other time in American history to sue federal officials for money damages if they violate your constitutional rights,” said Harrison Stark, senior counsel at the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Relatives of both Renée Good and Alex Pretti, Minneapolis residents who were fatally shot in separate encounters by federal immigration officers in January, have hired attorneys. In a statement, Romanucci & Blandin, the law firm retained by Good’s family, said it is pursuing a tort claim and would not be deterred by “the byzantine, time-consuming processes mandated by the Federal Tort Claims Act.” The attorney hired by Pretti’s parents did not respond to a request for comment.
People visit a makeshift memorial on Jan. 26 in Minneapolis for 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by immigration officers.
An ICE spokesperson said the agency received about 400 tort claims in fiscal 2025, which ended Sept. 30, but did not provide a breakdown of how many resulted in settlements or denials.
“Despite facing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them, 8,000% increase in death threats, and a 3,200% increase in vehicle rammings, the men and women of ICE continue working around the clock” to arrest and remove “the worst of the worst criminal aliens from the United States,” ICE said in an emailed statement. The Washington Post could not independently verify these numbers.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson declined to provide data about the number of tort claims the agency received last year.
“Rioters and agitators have created an extraordinary amount of damage to public and private property, not to mention the harm they have put our officers and the public in,” a CBP spokesperson said in a statement. “We expect these agitators will be held responsible for their actions.”
Spokespeople for ICE and CBP declined to comment on individual claims described in this story. They broadly said their agencies adhere to the Federal Tort Claims Act.
A significant settlement is not impossible. The estate of Ashli Babbitt, the woman who was shot and killed on Jan. 6, 2021, during the U.S. Capitol riot, filed a tort lawsuit and reached a nearly $5 million settlement with the government.
But the challenges of navigating the Federal Tort Claims Act — coupled with an anticipated rise in claims as violent encounters continue in cities across the United States — have put pressure on Congress to pass legislation to allow civil rights lawsuits against federal officers and agents.
Such an effort would probably face pushback, experts said. Several years ago, the National Border Patrol Council, a union that represents Border Patrol agents, warned the Supreme Court of the “potentially massive financial impact” that would occur if thousands of its agents were exposed to “liability for personal damages.”
‘Not very hopeful’
Leo Feler said he ran into challenges as soon as he decided to pursue a tort claim. For one thing, he wasn’t sure where to send it: Feler didn’t know which federal agency employed the masked men who came to his Chicago home on Oct. 24.
Feler, a 46-year-old economist, said he wasn’t there at the time. But he received a notification from his Ring security camera: Someone was on his property.
A construction crew had been repairing the windows and siding of his home in the affluent Lakeview neighborhood. As the workers ate lunch outside, armed men in green uniforms jumped from two vehicles and tried to break the locks on the gates of a nearly 6-foot-high wrought-iron fence, according to Feler, who reviewed security camera footage of the incident and a video taken by a neighbor.
The agents, Feler said, had scaled a wooden fence along the side of his house and hopped onto his balcony in pursuit of the fleeing workers.
One worker was injured as he scrambled through a construction site littered with wood and nails, Feler said, leaving a trail of blood in the home. Another worker was detained, he said.
Feler said a tenant who rented a unit on his property asked the officers to provide a warrant that authorized the raid, but they refused to do so. Through his Ring camera’s intercom system, Feler told the agents that they were trespassing and needed to leave. But they ignored him, he said.
Feler later sought legal advice. Attorneys told him he could file a tort claim for damages.
Unsure which agencies had come to his house, Feler sent the paperwork for his tort claim in December to ICE, Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security.
He described the damage to his property — including to his locks and fence — and also wrote that the agents “robbed me and my family of the feeling of security we once enjoyed in my home.” His tenant was afraid and asked to break her lease early, which Feler said he agreed to do.
Overall, Feler estimated $30,000 in damage to his property.
He said he is “not very hopeful” that he will receive payment. If his claim is denied, he said he and his attorneys will pursue a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Others caught up in Operation Midway Blitz, the administration’s immigration enforcement actions in the Chicago area last fall, also said they expect it will be difficult to recover alleged damages.
Leigh Kunkel, a 39-year-old freelance journalist, said she was documenting federal agents shooting pepper balls at protesters in late September outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Ill. An agent then aimed the weapon at her and fired pepper balls, she said, striking her in the back of the head and the nose and leaving her bloodied.
A week later, her fiancé, Kyle Frankovich, also was protesting in Broadview within an area that he said state police monitoring the scene had designated a “free speech zone.” Federal officials, including Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, emerged from the ICE facility and began arresting protesters, according to video footage.
Frankovich, 41, said he showed no aggression toward agents; nevertheless, he said, they took him to the ground and put him in handcuffs. They later lined him up with other detainees along a guardrail near the facility. The scene served as a backdrop to a Department of Homeland Security promotional video featuring Secretary Kristi L. Noem.
He said he was detained for eight hours before a federal agent dropped him off at a nearby gas station. Frankovich has not been charged with a crime.
Antonio Romanucci, a civil rights lawyer and founding partner at the Chicago-based firm representing Renée Good’s family, said his office plans to file federal tort claims for Kunkel and Frankovich. The couple said they understand the path may be long and their case could be unsuccessful, while also exposing them to public scrutiny.
“Ultimately, we landed on the feeling that we are privileged enough to have the opportunity to fight back against this as citizens,” Kunkel said, “and that if we can do that, if this is one little way that we can push back, that we should.”
Pushing for change
Previous efforts to change the federal law have failed to gain traction.
A law signed by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1871 established the statutory right to sue local or state officials for constitutional violations. Nearly two years ago, a group of U.S. lawmakers introduced draft legislation that would have amended that law by inserting just four words — “or the United States” — and established the right to sue federal officials as well. But the effort stalled.
“It’s a somewhat complicated area of law across different jurisdictions,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) said of the challenges in garnering support for the bill, which he sponsored. “But I didn’t see any huge partisan issues.”
Whitehouse said there was a lack of urgency at the time, even though the Supreme Court had “more or less strangled” the legal pathway that had been used since the 1970s to sue federal officials for civil rights violations.
Last fall, Whitehouse and Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga.) reintroduced the measure. Legal experts told the Post they think it is unlikely to pass, citing anticipated concerns about exposing federal law enforcement officers to personal liability.
A handful of states already have laws that authorize claims against federal officials for the violation of constitutional rights, including New Jersey and Massachusetts, according to research compiled by Stark of the University of Wisconsin Law School. Lawmakers in other states are scrambling to draft similar bills.
Last week, the California Senate passed the “No Kings Act” to allow civil rights lawsuits against federal officers. The measure will head to the State Assembly next.
In Colorado, Mike Weissman, a Democratic state senator, recently introduced a similar bill. He described talking with state legislators in Washington, New Mexico, and Virginia, to exchange ideas.
And in Minnesota, State Rep. Jamie Long, a Democrat whose district includes part of Minneapolis, has drafted such a bill for the legislative session that begins later this month.
“We know that there is evidence of these severe constitutional violations happening, and that’s why we think it’s appropriate to create this state remedy,” Long said.
Such measures are likely to be challenged. The U.S. Justice Department has already sued Illinois, alleging that its new law authorizing civil rights claims against federal officers is an “unconstitutional attempt to regulate federal law enforcement officers.”
In the meantime, those who say they have sustained property damage or injuries during immigration enforcement efforts and their attorneys are continuing to press lawmakers to enable them to sue federal officers.
Christopher Parente, a Chicago-based lawyer, is representing Marimar Martinez, a 30-year-old teacher’s assistant who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in October and survived. In an interview with the Post, her attorney said he thinks that Congress should change the law.
Parente, a former federal prosecutor who plans to file a tort claim on Martinez’s behalf, said, “There is no deterrence — in fact, these agents are embraced and celebrated by this administration and their colleagues.”
Marimar Martinez (center) is greeted by her family after being released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Oct. 6, 2025, after being shot by immigration agents and charged with assaulting federal officers in an incident in Chicago’s Brighton Park.
A chilling effect
People seeking compensation from the federal government may face another roadblock: finding an attorney to take their case.
“I’ve met people who spent the entire statute of limitations period, which is generally two years, looking for attorneys to represent them in cases against the federal government or federal officials and not being able to find them,” said Anya Bidwell, senior attorney for the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law firm based in the D.C. area.
Bidwell said many attorneys are deterred from taking Federal Tort Claims Act cases because the government often invokes “a very broad immunity that courts traditionally interpret to pretty much swallow any of the claims that involve any kind of a judgment or choice on behalf of an officer.”
In other words, many cases are dismissed. Bidwell said “even getting to trial is extremely difficult.”
Some people who consider filing claims ultimately decide not to, discouraged by the long and difficult process.
In Minneapolis, Gina Christ, a 55-year-old business manager, contacted a lawyer to challenge what she described as an unlawful detention. But the attorney she met with told her suing the government would be “very, very difficult,” Christ recalled.
Christ had driven to a protest that began after Border Patrol agents allegedly tried to arrest a pair of Latino teens. She said she parked along the side of the street to observe the agents, not to obstruct them.
Christ said she was soon surrounded by agents and protesters. Agents yelled at her to move before smashing the window of her Ford Escape. They opened the door, pulled her out of the car, and held her facedown on the pavement, she said.
Agents restrained her wrists with plastic zip ties, Christ said, while her eyes and throat burned from tear gas fired into the nearby crowd.
Authorities took her to a federal building for processing, she said, and placed her in metal arm and leg shackles. She said they walked her to a folding table, where there was a makeshift sign with the criminal code for assaulting an officer. They told her she would face charges and took her fingerprints and a DNA swab.
Christ said she spent nearly four hours in custody before she was released. She hasn’t been charged with a crime.
A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson did not answer questions about the agency’s interaction with Christ.
After weighing the difficulty of pursuing a tort claim, Christ said she plans to pay to fix her window herself. Given what others have lost, she said, it seems too small to pursue.
Sonny Jurgensen, the Hall of Fame quarterback whose strong arm, keen wit and affable personality made him one of the most beloved figures in Washington football history, has died. He was 91.
A Washington Commanders spokesperson confirmed Friday the team learned of Jurgensen’s death that morning from his family.
Jurgensen arrived in Washington in 1964 in a surprise quarterback swap that sent Norm Snead to the Philadelphia Eagles. Over the next 11 seasons, Jurgensen rewrote the team’s record books.
Eagles players (from left) Sonny Jurgensen, Pete Retzlaff, Timmy Brown and Tommy McDonald in 1963.
He topped 3,000 yards in a season five times, including twice with Philadelphia, in an era before rules changes opened up NFL offenses. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and remains the only Washington player to wear the No. 9 jersey in a game.
COLLINGSWOOD, N.J. — The shawarma, falafel wraps and baklava at Jersey Kebab are great, but many of its patrons are also there these days for a side of protest.
A New Jersey suburb of Philadelphia has rallied around the restaurant’s Turkish owners since federal officers detained the couple last February because they say their visas had expired.
In fact, business has been so good since Celal and Emine Emanet were picked up early in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown that they have moved to a bigger space in the next town over. Their regulars don’t seem to mind.
Celal Emanet, 52, first came to the U.S. in 2000 to learn English while he pursued his doctorate in Islamic history at a Turkish university. He returned in 2008 to serve as an imam at a southern New Jersey mosque, bringing Emine and their first two children came, too. Two more would be born in the U.S.
Before long, Celal had an additional business of delivering bread to diners. They applied for permanent residency and believed they were on their way to receiving green cards.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began and the delivery trucks were idled, Celal and Emine, who had both worked in restaurants in Turkey, opened Jersey Kebab in Haddon Township. Business was strong from the start.
On Feb. 25, U.S. marshals and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested the couple at the restaurant. Celal was sent home with an ankle monitor, but Emine, now 47, was moved to a detention facility more than an hour’s drive away and held there for 15 days.
With its main cook in detention and the family in crisis, the shop closed temporarily.
Emine Emanet hugs her husband Celal as she leaves the ICE Elizabeth Detention Facility on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.
Although the area is heavily Democratic, the arrests of the Emanets signaled to many locals that immigration enforcement during President Donald Trump’s second term wouldn’t stop at going after people with criminal backgrounds who are in the U.S. illegally.
“They were not dangerous people — not the type of people we were told on TV they were looking to remove from our country,” Haddon Township Mayor Randy Teague said.
Supporters organized a vigil and raised $300,000 that kept the family and business afloat while the shop was closed — and paid legal bills. Members of Congress helped, and hundreds of customers wrote letters of support.
Celal Emanet works at the grill in his Jersey Kebab restaurant on Sunday, Mar. 30, 2025.
Space for a crowd
As news of the family’s ordeal spread, customers new and old began packing the restaurant. The family moved it late last year to a bigger space down busy Haddon Avenue in Collingswood.
They added a breakfast menu and for the first time needed to hire servers besides their son Muhammed.
The location changed, but the restaurant still features a sign in the window offering free meals to people in need. That’s honoring a Muslim value, to care for “anybody who has less than us,” Muhammed said.
Judy Kubit and Linda Rey, two friends from the nearby communities of Medford and Columbus, respectively, said they came to Haddon Township last year for an anti-Trump “No Kings” rally and ate a post-protest lunch at the kebab shop.
“We thought, we have to go in just to show our solidarity for the whole issue,” Kubit said.
Last month, with the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis dominating the headlines, they were at the new location for lunch.
Gretchen Seibert tapes up hearts with words of support for Celal and Emine Emanet, the owners of Jersey Kebab, after the couple was detained by ICE in February 2025.
The legal battle hasn’t ended
The Emanets desperately want to stay in the U.S., where they’ve built a life and raised their family.
Celal has a deportation hearing in March, and Emine and Muhammed will also have hearings eventually.
Celal said moving back to Turkey would be bad for his younger children. They don’t speak Turkish, and one is autistic and needs the help available in the U.S.
Also, he’d be worried about his own safety because of his academic articles. “I am in opposition to the Turkish government,” he said. “If they deport me, I am going to get very big problems.”
The groundswell of support has shown the family they’re not alone.
“We’re kind of fighting for our right to stay the country,” Muhammed Emanet said, “while still having amazing support from the community behind us. So we’re all in it together.”
TUCSON, Ariz. — “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s brother on Thursday renewed the family’s plea for their mother’s kidnapper to contact them, hours after an Arizona sheriff said investigators don’t have proof Nancy Guthrie is alive but believe “she’s still out there.”
“Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven’t heard anything directly,” Camron Guthrie said in a video posted on social media.
“We need you to reach out and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward,” but first the family needs to know the kidnapper has their mother, he said, echoing a statement his famous sister read the day before.
Five days into the desperate search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, authorities have not identified any suspects or persons of interest, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said.
Authorities think she was taken against her will from her home in Tucson over the weekend. DNA tests showed blood found on Guthrie’s front porch was a match to her, the sheriff said.
“Right now, we believe Nancy is still out there. We want her home,” Nanos said at a news conference earlier Thursday. He acknowledged, however, that authorities have no evidence she’s OK.
Demands for ransom
Investigators said they are taking seriously notes seeking ransom that were sent to some media outlets.
It’s unclear if all of the notes were identical. Heith Janke, the FBI chief in Phoenix, said details included a demand for money with a Thursday evening deadline and a second deadline for Monday if the first one wasn’t met. At least one note mentioned a floodlight at Guthrie’s home and an Apple watch, Janke said.
“To anyone who may be involved, do the right thing. This is an 84-year-old grandma,” Janke said.
At least three media organizations reported receiving purported ransom notes, which they handed over to investigators. Authorities made an arrest after one ransom note turned out to be fake, the sheriff said.
A note e-mailed Monday to the KOLD-TV newsroom in Tucson included information that only the abductor would know, anchor Mary Coleman told CNN.
“When we saw some of those details, it was clear after a couple of sentences that this might not be a hoax,” she said.
The sheriff said it’s possible Nancy Guthrie was targeted, but if she was, investigators don’t know if that’s because her daughter is one of television’s most visible anchors.
Authorities say any decision on whether to fulfill ransom demands ultimately is up to the family.
A day earlier, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings released a message to her mother’s kidnapper, saying they are ready to talk but want proof their mom is still alive. There’s been no response to their pleas so far.
New timeline of Guthrie’s disappearance
Investigators gave a more detailed timeline from the hours after Nancy Guthrie was last seen Saturday night. She was eating dinner and playing games with family members before one of them dropped her off at her home in a upscale neighborhood that sits on hilly, desert terrain, the sheriff said.
About four hours later, just before 2 a.m. Sunday, the home’s doorbell camera was disconnected, Nanos said. But Guthrie did not have an active subscription, so the doorbell company was unable to recover any footage.
Software data recorded movement at the home minutes later, the sheriff said, acknowledging that the motion could have come from an animal.
Then at 2:28 a.m. the app on Guthrie’s pacemaker was disconnected from her phone.
Search enters a fifth day
Guthrie was reported missing shortly before noon Sunday after she didn’t show up at a church.
While she is able to drive and her mind is sharp, the sheriff said she has difficulty walking even short distances. She also requires daily medicine that’s vital to her health, he has said.
A sheriff’s dispatcher said during the search Sunday that Guthrie has high blood pressure, a pacemaker and heart issues, according to audio from broadcastify.com.
Investigators searched in and around Guthrie’s home again for several hours Wednesday.
Authorities are bringing more resources and people into the investigation, and the FBI announced Thursday it was offering up to $50,000 for information. A day earlier, President Donald Trump posted on social media that he was directing federal authorities to help where they can.
Savannah Guthrie has hosted “Today” — NBC’s flagship morning show — for more than a decade and had been set to co-anchor the network’s coverage of Friday’s opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics. For now, she’s staying close to her mother’s home.
She joined her two siblings in an emotional plea on social media Wednesday to say they’re ready to talk to whoever sent the ransom notes.
“We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen. Please reach out to us,” she said while fighting off tears.
With her voice cracking, she addressed her mother directly, saying the family was praying for her and that people were looking for her. She was flanked by Camron and their sister, Annie.
“Mamma, If you’re listening, we need you to come home. We miss you,” Annie Guthrie said.
TRENTON, N.J. — The race in New Jersey between a onetime political director for Sen. Bernie Sanders and a former congressman was too early to call Thursday, in a special House Democratic primary for a seat that was vacated after Mikie Sherrill was elected governor.
Former U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski started election night with a significant lead over Analilia Mejia, based largely on early results from mail-in ballots. The margin narrowed as results from votes cast that day were tallied.
With more than 61,000 votes counted, Mejia led Malinowski by 486, or less than 1 percentage point.
All three counties in the district report some mail-in ballots yet to be processed. Also, mail-in ballots postmarked by election day can arrive as late as Wednesday and still be counted.
Malinowski did better than Mejia among the mail-in ballots already counted in all three counties, leaving the outcome of the race uncertain.
The Democratic winner will face Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, who was unopposed in the Republican primary, on April 16.
Analilia Mejia, center, speaks during a rally in Washington calling for SCOTUS ethics reform on May 2, 2023.
Mejia, a former head of the Working Families Alliance in the state and political director for Sanders during his 2020 presidential run, had the Vermont independent senator’s endorsement as well as that of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York. She also worked in President Joe Biden’s Labor Department as deputy director of the women’s bureau.
Both Malinowski and Mejia were well ahead of the next-closest candidates: Brendan Gill, an elected commissioner in Essex County who has close ties to former Gov. Phil Murphy; and Tahesha Way, who served as lieutenant governor and secretary of state for two terms under Murphy until last month.
Democratic Congressman Tom Malinowski speaks during his election night party in Garwood, N.J., on Nov. 8, 2022.
The other candidates were John Bartlett, Zach Beecher, J-L Cauvin, Marc Chaaban, Cammie Croft, Dean Dafis, Jeff Grayzel, Justin Strickland and Anna Lee Williams.
The district covers parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey, including some of New York City’s wealthier suburbs.
The special primary and April general election will determine who serves the remainder of Sherrill’s term, which ends next January. There will be a regular primary in June and general election in November for the next two-year term.
Sherrill, also a Democrat, represented the district for four terms after her election in 2018. She won despite the region’s historical loyalty to the GOP, a dynamic that began to shift during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Many Americans stand to collect larger tax refunds this year, whether they itemize or not.
Certain filers can now write off tips, overtime pay, and auto loan interest because of changes enacted under last year’s sweeping tax and spending bill. People 65 and older can collect a $6,000 write-off. And the standard deduction has grown, as has the child tax credit.
Many workers may have had more money withheld from their paychecks than needed because the IRS did not adjust withholding tables after Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law on July 4.Excess withholding is different from a tax cut, of course, but it generally translates into larger refunds because the government returns the overpayment.
Overall, the law disproportionately benefits the wealthy and shifts government benefits from low-income households to higher-earning ones, according to independent analyses. Though most people will see some reduction in taxes, many low-income households lost more in federal benefits like SNAP or Medicaid than they would gain from tax cuts.
Here’s what filers need to know about the new provisions heading into tax season, which runs through April 15.
Tips
Workers in specific jobs — such as bartenders, gambling dealers, DJs, babysitters, tailors, and many more — can deduct as much as $25,000in tips from their taxable income. They don’t need to itemize; however, married filers must file jointly. Those who earn more than $150,000 (or $300,000 jointly) cannot claim the full deduction.
The new deduction is only available to filers with a Social Security number, which will prevent some immigrants from claiming it.
Next year, employers will have new tax forms for recording their workers’ tips that qualify for the deduction. This year, however, workers will need to figure out their qualifying tips on their own.
The IRS estimates that about 6 million people can claim the new deduction. The Congressional Budget Office estimates they will collectively pay about $10 billion less in taxes this year.
Overtime wages
When workers earn a bonus for working extra hours— the “half” part of those “time-and-a-half” earnings — that money won’t be taxed. The income limitation is the same as those on tips, but the total allowable deduction is capped at $12,500 for an individual and $25,000 for joint filers.
This deduction also requires taxpayers to have a Social Security number and to file jointly if married. It isn’t limited to specific named occupations, though not all workers are entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The number of salaried, full-time workers who are guaranteed overtime based on their wages dropped from roughly 65% in the 1970s to 15% in 2024, according to the National Employment Law Project. Still, this deduction is one of the more costly ones in the new law, projected to decrease tax revenue by more than $32 billion.
Like tips, the deduction is available whether taxpayers itemize or not. And workers will be responsible for calculating their overtime pay this year, as the IRS will not have forms available until next tax season. Many employers will provide workers with pay statements to help them figure out what they can claim.
Car loan interest
If you took out an auto loan in 2025, you may be able to write off as much as $10,000 in interest. The deduction is Republicans’ response to rising car payments: Consumers are now paying more than $50,000, on average, for a new vehicle, leaving 1 in 5 of them with payments in excess of $1,000 a month.
The deduction is reserved for automobiles that had their “final assembly” in the United States. A long list of popular cars and SUVs from both American and foreign brands are assembled here, but some vehicles won’t qualify. The Nissan Sentra, for example, is assembled in Mexico, and many Toyota Corollas are assembled in Japan. You can look up your own car at vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/decoder.
Only taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income below $100,000, or joint filers below $200,000, can claim the full deduction.
The CBO estimated that the deduction will cost the government $5.4 billion in 2026.
Senior citizens
Taxpayers 65 and older already get a larger standard deduction than younger people. The Republican law bumps it up by $6,000 for low- and moderate-income seniors (individuals with as much as $75,000 in income or joint filers with $150,000). It also allows those seniors who itemize instead of claiming the standard deduction to be eligible for the same additional $6,000 deduction.
Republicans created this deduction instead of exempting Social Security income from taxes, an idea floated by President Donald Trump during his campaign. With the new deduction, few seniors will wind up owing taxes on their Social Security benefits.
The Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated that the enhanced deduction will cost the government more than $17.6 billion a year.
Bigger deductions
The standard deduction rises to $15,750 for individuals, $23,625 for heads of households, and $31,500 for couples filing jointly.
The Republican bill passed in July extended many of the provisions of a 2017 tax law that otherwise would have expired — including a larger standard deduction and no more personal exemptions.
The law increased the maximum Child Tax Credit to $2,200 per child, and the amount of state and local taxes (SALT) that filers can deduct from their taxable income, from $10,000 to $40,000.
LOS ANGELES — Austin Reaves scored 35 points in just 25 minutes, and the Los Angeles Lakers overcame Luka Doncic’s departure with a left leg injury for a 119-115 victory over the 76ers on Thursday night.
LeBron James had 17 points and 10 assists for the Lakers, who snapped Philadelphia’s five-game winning streak with a big second-half rally in their first game back from an eight-game road trip.
Joel Embiid had 35 points and Tyrese Maxey added 26 points and 13 assists for the Sixers, who blew a 14-point lead and nearly came back from a 16-point deficit in the second half of their first loss since Jan. 26.
The Lakers led 110-94 with four minutes left, but the Sixers closed the gap to 116-113 when rookie VJ Edgecombe stole James’ inbounds pass and hit a three-pointer with 36 seconds to play. James had eight turnovers.
But Maxi Kleber fed Rui Hachimura for a dunk with 12 seconds left, and the Lakers hung on.
With 12-of-17 shooting and five three-pointers while coming off the bench, Reaves was phenomenal despite playing on a minutes restriction in his second game back from a 5½-week absence with a calf injury.
But just when the Lakers’ core was finally healthy again, Doncic went down during their fifth win in seven games.
Lakers guard Luka Doncic (right) left their game against the Sixers with a leg injury.
The NBA’s leading scorer limped to the locker room with 3 minutes, 3 seconds left in the first half after apparently hurting his leg on the far end of the court moments earlier. He didn’t return for the second half due to what the Lakers called left leg soreness.
Reaves, Doncic and James were playing in only their 10th game together during a season in which all three have struggled with significant injuries.
The Lakers took their first lead with Reaves’ back-to-back three-pointers to open the fourth on a 21-6 run.
The Sixers continue their west coast roadtrip by facing the Phoenix Suns on Saturday (9 p.m., NBCSP).
SAN FRANCISCO — Matthew Stafford walked away with the AP NFL Most Valuable Player award and a declaration that he’s returning to the Los Angeles Rams for another season.
Stafford edged Drake Maye for the MVP award on Thursday night in the closest race since Peyton Manning and Steve McNair were co-winners in 2003.
Stafford received 24 of 50 first-place votes while Maye got 23. But Maye has a chance to go home this week with a Vince Lombardi Trophy. He leads the New England Patriots against the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Stafford, who turns 38 on Saturday, wants another opportunity to try to win his second Super Bowl ring with the Rams.
“Oh yeah, I’ll be back. It was such an amazing season and I play with such a great group of guys and great group of coaches that I was lucky enough to finish this season healthy, and I want to make sure that I go out there and see what happens next year,” Stafford told the AP.
Stafford brought his four daughters — all dressed in identical black-and-white dresses — to the stage to accept the award.
He thanked his team and saved his wife and daughters for last: “You’re unbelievable cheerleaders for me. I appreciate it. I am so happy to have you at the games on the sideline with me, and I can’t wait for you to cheer me on next year when we’re out there kicking (butt).”
It was Stafford’s way of announcing he will be back next season after contemplating retirement.
Myles Garrett was a unanimous choice for the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year award after setting a season record for sacks with 23.
All-Pro wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba beat out Christian McCaffrey for the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year award.
New England’s Mike Vrabel beat out Jacksonville’s Liam Coen for the AP NFL Coach of the Year award, becoming the seventh coach to win it with two different teams.
McCaffrey became the first running back to win the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year award in 24 years.
Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger was a runaway winner for the AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan ran away with the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels won the AP NFL Assistant Coach of the Year award in the first season of his third stint with the team.
A nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league completed voting before the playoffs began. Votes were tabulated by the accounting firm Lutz and Carr.
Voters selected a top 5 for the eight AP NFL awards. First-place votes were worth 10 points. Second- through fifth-place votes were worth 5, 3, 2 and 1 points.
Josh Allen, the 2024 NFL MVP, received two first-place MVP votes, and Justin Herbert got the other one.
Stafford, who earned first-team All-Pro honors for the first time in his 17-year career, finished with 366 points to Maye’s 361. Allen placed third with 91 points, Christian McCaffrey (71) was fourth and Trevor Lawrence (49) came in fifth.
It’s McCaffrey’s second top-five finish in three years, more than any other non-quarterback since the weighted point system was implemented in 2022.
Stafford led the NFL with 4,707 yards passing and 46 TDs. He threw eight picks and finished second to Maye with a 109.2 passer rating. Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams lost to Seattle in the NFC championship game.
Maye had 4,394 yards passing, 31 TDs and eight picks. The second-year pro led the league in passer rating (113.5) and completion percentage (72).
Coach of the Year
Vrabel can get his first Super Bowl title as a head coach Sunday if the Patriots beat the Seahawks. He received 19 first-place votes to Coen’s 16 and finished with 302 points.
Vrabel, the 2021 Coach of the Year winner with the Titans, led the Patriots from worst to first in the AFC East, a 10-win turnaround in his first season in New England.
Coen had 239 points after leading the Jacksonville Jaguars to 13 wins and an AFC South title in his first season.
Seattle’s Mike Macdonald got eight first-place votes and finished third (191). Chicago’s Ben Johnson received one first-place vote and came in fourth (145). San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan had six first-place votes to place fifth (140).
Defensive Player of the Year
Garrett received all 50 first-place votes to become the ninth player to win DPOY multiple times and second unanimous choice following J.J. Watt, who did it in 2014. Cleveland’s edge rusher also was a unanimous All-Pro selection. Garrett previously won the award in 2023.
“It doesn’t just start with me,” he said. “It starts with great teammates, a great organization, great coaches being able to put us in position. I’m thankful for every single one of teammates to help get me up here. It’s not possible without them.”
Texans edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. finished second with 77 points, Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons came in third (63) followed by Broncos edge rusher Nik Bonitto (52) and Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson (42).
Garrett surpassed both Michael Strahan (22.5) and T.J. Watt (22.5) when he sacked Joe Burrow in the final game of the regular season.
Offensive Player of the Year
Smith-Njigba got 14 first-place votes to McCaffrey’s 12 and finished with 272 points. McCaffrey, who won the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year award, had 223 points.
Smith-Njigba caught 119 passes and led the league with 1,793 yards receiving. He had 10 TDs.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, a unanimous All-Pro like Smith-Njigba, finished third with eight first-place votes and 170 points. Falcons All-Pro running back Bijan Robinson was right behind him with six first-place votes and 168 points.
Comeback Player of the Year
McCaffrey, San Francisco’s All-Pro do-it-all back, received 31 first-place votes and 395 points, outgaining Aidan Hutchinson. Garrison Hearst was the last running back to win it in 2001.
Hutchinson got nine first-place votes and 221 points. Dak Prescott came in third with six first-place votes and 167 points. Lawrence got two first-place votes and finished fourth (130). Stefon Diggs came in fifth (40).
Philip Rivers and Chris Olave each received one first-place vote.
McCaffrey played in just four games in 2024 due to bilateral Achilles tendinitis followed by a season-ending PCL knee injury. He returned to play every game for the 49ers and had 2,126 yards from scrimmage and 17 TDs.
Defensive Rookie of the Year
Schwesinger received 40 first-place votes and had 441 points to become the sixth player in the last 45 seasons to win the award after not being picked in the first round. Shaq Leonard (2018) and DeMeco Ryans (2006) were the only others in the last 20 seasons. Cleveland selected Schwesinger in the second round at No. 33 overall.
Versatile Seahawks defensive back Nick Emmanwori got seven first-place votes and finished second (199).
Offensive Rookie of the Year
McMillan earned 41 first-place votes after catching 70 passes for 1,014 yards and seven TDs.
Saints quarterback Tyler Shough got five first-place votes and finished second with 168 points, way behind McMillan’s 445.
Assistant Coach of the Year
McDaniels received 17 of 50 first-place votes and finished with 249 points. Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph placed second with 10 first-place votes and 176 points.
BAIDI, Nigeria — There are still bloodstains and bullet holes in the mud-brick alcove where villagers took shelter last month after militants overran their community, opening fire on residents who had gathered to drink tea in the town square.
Six people, ages 18 to 60, were killed in Baidi that night, locals said, gunned down without warning by men whose faces were obscured by the darkness. The attack was the latest in Nigeria’s northwestern Sokoto state, carried out by what Nigerian and U.S. officials believe is the newest African affiliate of the Islamic State.
On Christmas night, President Donald Trump announced that United States had launched airstrikes against the group, known here as Lakurawa, part of what the White House and its allies have described as a campaign to put a stop to the “slaughter of Christians” in Nigeria. But the U.S. strikes were largely ineffective, Nigerian officials, analysts and residents said, and there are very few Christians in Sokoto to protect. The state, once part of a 19th-century caliphate, remains overwhelmingly Islamic, and it is Muslims in villages like this one who have borne most of the violence in Sokoto.
Yet no one here denies there is a real and growing security crisis. Islamist militants from several different groups have wrought havoc in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in recent years while quietly extending their reach into northern Nigeria. Most researchers see Lakurawa as an extension of the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), which is strongest along the borderlands between Mali and Niger but has shown the ability to strike high-profile targets. Its fighters kidnapped an American missionary in central Niamey, Niger’s capital, late last year and, just last week, executed a large-scale attack on Niger’s international airport.
Now, according to five Nigerian and U.S. officials, ISSP is sharing intelligence and coordinating logistics with the more established Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which is based hundreds of miles to the east on the islands of Lake Chad. Together, officials fear, the two groups could destabilize vast stretches of northern Nigeria, home to an estimated 130 million people, where authorities have long struggled to contain insurgent violence.
“This is not just a Nigeria problem,” said one of the Nigerian security officials, speaking like others in this story on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive and ongoing operations. “It affects the entire region.”
Men handle donkeys at the market in Tangaza, Nigeria, on Jan. 26. Many kidnappings and attacks occur in this area.
The U.S. has ramped up cooperation with Nigeria’s military in recent months, according to four of the officials, running daily surveillance flights over northern Nigeria with drones launched from Ghana. Officials said the flights have provided actionable intelligence used in additional strikes by the Nigerian military.
What, if anything, the U.S. and Nigerian strikes have achieved against militants in the northwest remains difficult to discern. Both nations are playing catch-up on a threat that analysts say has been building for years and is still poorly understood. Attacks by Lakurawa have not been officially claimed by the Islamic State, and researchers and officials have competing theories about the group’s origins and allegiances.
What was clear over the course of more than 20 interviews across Sokoto state is that the militants are on the offensive. Residents in multiple front line villages say armed men are increasingly imposing an extreme version of Islamic law on their communities, demanding they pay taxes known as zakat and punishing those who refuse.
Fighters often announce their arrival by barging into mosques and dictating the rules communities must live by. Most of the villages around Baidi, residents said, have already fallen under Lakurawa’s control. Western schools, already rare in this impoverished region, have been shuttered. Music, cigarettes, and traditional celebrations, including weddings and naming ceremonies, have been banned. Drinking and drugs are forbidden and strict dress codes are enforced.
Musa Sani next to blood and bullet holes where Lakurawa shot during a recent attack that killed several people in Baidi, Nigeria, on Jan. 26.
A few weeks before the attack in Baidi, residents said, militants approached members of a local vigilante group that had formed to defend the community, demanding they urge local leaders to submit to their rule. The leaders refused.
“We understood there would be retaliation,” said Musa Sani, 47, one of the vigilantes. “But we did not want to live under a terrorist regime.”
Men hang out in Silame, Nigeria, where Lakurawa pass through, on Jan. 25. Lakurawa have been known to punish people for having cell phones. Many kidnappings and attacks occur in this area.
‘Under the radar’
In November, U.N. secretary-general António Guterres told the U.N. Security Council that Africa’s Sahel region, spanning the breadth of the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, now accounts for more than half of all terrorism deaths worldwide and warned of a “disastrous domino effect across the entire region.”
A dizzying array of armed groups thrive across a succession of weak states with porous borders. JNIM, a powerful al-Qaeda affiliate, and ISSP compete for influence in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger (JNIM also claimed its first attack in Nigeria in late October). ISWAP and the remnants of the Boko Haram jihadist movement are dominant in northeast Nigeria and around Lake Chad.
Boko Haram’s rampage in northeast Nigeria captured the world’s attention more than a decade ago when fighters kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls from their dormitories in Chibok. But the arrival of Sahelian militants in the northwest a few years later flew largely under the radar and has been a source of growing alarm for Nigerian officials.
Hakimi Maikudi, community leader, stands in the road where Lakurawa came through during the attack in Baidi, Nigeria, on Jan. 26.
In early November, when Trump suddenly threatened to go “guns-a-blazing” into Nigeria to protect embattled Christmas, officials here were surprised and angry. Nigeria’s population of 230 million is roughly split between Christians and Muslims, and people of both faiths have been targeted by extremists.
But Nigeria’s military was watching the militant violence, especially in the northwest, with growing concern, acknowledged Daniel Bwala, a senior adviser to President Bola Tinubu. “We had always viewed the United States as a senior brother,” said Bwala. “We needed to find a way to work with [them].”
Bwala and a delegation of top officials made the rounds in Washington, appealing for help in addressing a security crisis they said impacted all Nigerians. Their efforts paid off: When the U.S. launched strikes on Dec. 25, it was against Lakurawa targets provided by Nigerian officials.
Although Trump and other U.S. officials have publicly claimed the strikes were a success, they have provided no evidence to support their claims. At least four of the 16 Tomahawk missiles failed to explode, the Washington Post found, landing in open fields and a residential area far from where the militants are known to operate. Nigeria’s government has said three dozen suspected militants were arrested while attempting to flee Sokoto state following the strikes. Mohammed Idris, the country’s information minister, told the Post that a “comprehensive evaluation” was still underway.
A senior Nigerian intelligence official who deployed a team to the sites where missiles reached their targets told the Post that while Lakurawa camps were destroyed, there was no indication that militants were killed. Three other Nigerian officials conceded that the sheer number of armed groups operating in the northwest, and shifting alliances among them, have made it difficult to obtain accurate intelligence.
That lack of clarity presents “a real operational challenge vis-à-vis targeting,” said James Barnett, a Nigeria specialist based between Lagos and Britain. “Intelligence has to be precise and fresh for it to be effective.”
Barnett also cautioned that Lakurawa may not be a single coherent group, but rather a catchall term for Sahelian Islamist militants. Allied criminal bandits, he added, may be exploiting the confusion and operating under its name.
As officials try to make sense of the situation, fighters loyal to ISSP have “entrenched themselves in the Niger-Nigeria borderland and are advancing toward Benin,” said Héni Nsaibia, the senior West Africa analyst for the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.
“They have decided to run their operations covertly,” he said, “to try to stay under the radar.”
Children leave their home in Silame, Nigeria, where Lakurawa pass through, on Jan. 25.
Rule of the gun
Driving north from the bustling city of Sokoto, the regional capital, toward the border with Niger, the roads are largely devoid of traffic. Rolling brushland is interrupted only by the occasional farm.
It is in these remote, ungoverned spaces that Lakurawa established a foothold, officials say, and is now expanding.
Residents in four towns and villages described armed men arriving here more than five years ago from Mali and Niger, traveling on motorbikes and speaking languages they didn’t understand.
At first, they presented themselves as peacemakers — mediating disputes between herders and farmers, which sometimes turned violent, and protecting communities from roving bandits. But it was not long before they showed their true colors, residents said, issuing draconian decrees at gunpoint.
Over the last year, according to experts, residents and officials, the militants have widened their reach, bringing more villages under their control and using violence against those who resist.
Residents in Dankale recalled being crowded into the village meeting place last year by 10 men with AK-47s, their faces mostly hidden by turbans. Through an interpreter, the Islamists demanded that locals disarm and adhere to their rules, said Awal, one of the men present that day.
“We knew that if we spoke,” he said, “we would be killed.”
Habiba, left, and Bashariya, carrying baby Awaisu, grind cornmeal in Dankale, Nigeria, where Lakurawa pass through, on Jan. 25.
In nearby Karadal, imam Sirajo Lawal said that virtually everyone in his village tries to live by the Quran. But the Islam that he preaches, and that his father preached before him, gives people the freedom to choose their own path, he said.
With the militants, however‚ “they say, ‘You must do this, otherwise, hellfire,’” said Lawal, 55. “This is the point of difference.”
He spoke to the Post at a school in Tangaza, about six miles from his village, now solidly under the control of Lakurawa. Interviewing him there would have been too dangerous. Men in the community who listen to music or refuse to grow beards are beaten or fined by the militants, he said. Gunmen have also burst into traditional ceremonies, which are no longer permitted, and fired into the air.
Imam Sirajo Lawal in Tangaza, Nigeria, on Jan. 26.
In Karadal, and dozens of communities like it, the group rules by extortion: forcing locals to pay taxes in exchange for safety. Lawal said he had put aside eight bags of grain for his next payment to the group.
Kingsley L. Madueke, the Nigeria research coordinator for the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said much of Lakurawa’s funding is believed to come from tax collection, though the group also carries out kidnappings for ransom and steals cattle from herders. Often, he added, they cooperate with local bandits who know the terrain.
Most analysts believe Lakurawa is part of, or affiliated with, the Islamic State Sahel Province, which first emerged in 2015, killed four U.S. soldiers in an ambush in rural Niger in 2017 and was officially recognized as a “province” by the Islamic State in 2022. How much support Lakurawa receives from the Islamic State’s hub in northern Somalia is unclear — one of many things researchers are still trying to pin down.
Lawal said the militants came straight to him when they wanted to enter his village. He acquiesced to their demands, he said, knowing the Nigerian government would not protect them.
“We are not comfortable at all, but we cannot do otherwise,” he said. “They could kill us at any time.”
In the wake of U.S. strikes, Lakurawa have apparently moved their camps, Madueke said, but their attacks have continued. Dislodging them from the northwest would require a clear strategy and sustained commitment from an administration that has not prioritized Africa, said retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman.
“A dozen cruise missiles does not a counterterrorism mission make,” he said. “We’ve learned time and again that success requires consistent presence with sufficient capability and will alongside our partners.”
Men walk with camels in Baidi, Nigeria, on Jan. 26. A recent attack by Lakurawa here killed several people.
Sani, the vigilante in Baidi, was initially hopeful the U.S. strikes would wipe out so many militants that they would abandon the area. He knew he was mistaken when he heard the gunfire in the town square.
He found his grandfather among the dead, his stomach perforated with bullets. Through his tears, he tried to help two men with critical injuries, he said, but neither made it. He expects more violence is coming.
“We’re more scared than ever before,” he said. “It feels like they’ve dispersed and are everywhere.”
