Al-Shabab Islamist militants say they are behind an attack on a police station in north-eastern Kenya, near the border with Somalia.

Some residents report that two police officers were injured in the raid on Hamey, which is not far from the town of Garissa, and many more cannot be accounted for.

The raid took place at about midnight local time.

An al-Shabab spokesman told the BBC that the insurgents killed six officers and captured two others.

The fighters were able to take over the entire police station as most of the officers ran away, al-Shabab said.

A vehicle and some arms were also stolen.

A journalist based in the Dadaab district said that one police officer who was injured in the attack is now being treated in Dadaab.

Al-Shabab has staged numerous attacks in Kenya, including the massacre at Garissa University in April 2015, in which 147 people were killed.

Image source, AFP

At the University of Ghana people are calling for a statue of the Indian hero and pacifist leader Mahatma Gandhi to be removed. 

They say he has a history of racism against Africans. 

Obadele Kambon, one of the activists behind the petition, spoke to the BBC's Newsday programme:

Read more: Ghana's problem with 'racist' Gandhi

Four suspected traffickers have been detained in connection with Wednesday's deadly capsizing of a migrant boat off the coast of Egypt, according to officials, AFP news agency reports.  

Hundreds are feared dead, with just 150 passengers rescued from the boat, which was carrying an estimated 600 people (see previous entry). 

Image source, EPA

Image source, Getty Images

President Joseph Kabila has appealed for calm after three days of anti-government protests in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in which the opposition says about 100 people have been killed.

An official statement read out on state television said that the president had been "deeply affected by the sad events" of the past few days. 

The statement placed blamed Monday's opposition demonstration for the violence:

Human rights groups and the opposition say that the security forces have been responsible for the majority of the killings. 

The president's statement warns against further protests:

Image source, AFP

The president also promised his support in bringing justice to the victims of the violence. 

RFI's correspondent in the capital, Kinshasa, has tweeted a copy of the full statement (in French):

Read more: Could DR Congo’s president face a mass uprising? 

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Catholic parishioners in northern Uganda have clashed with police and army officers in a row over a dead bishop.

It all hinges over the grave of Fredrick Drandua, a long-serving bishop who died on 1 September.

Gunshots are said to have rocked Arua town from around midnight at the Ediofe Cathedral.

The Uganda Radio Network says the tensions started when rumours began circulating that the new Bishop of Arua, Sabino Odoki, had directed that his predecessor’s body be moved to a burial site outside the cathedral.

This allegation angered some Catholics in the diocese who turned up at the Ediofe Cathedral last night.

They also feared the grave might be robbed for the bishop's gold rings and rosary, the state-owned New Vision newspaper reports.

There was a confrontation between rival groups, forcing the security forces to intervene.

This photo has been tweeted from the scene:

the New Vision has tweeted that the police chief is going to the area this morning to oversee the matter:

Image source, _

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has invited the UN to negotiate with Boko Haram to end their seven-year Islamist insurgency and secure the release of the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted from Chibok.

He said he was willing to swap Boko Haram fighters in custody for the girls.

But he said it was difficult to know who within Boko Haram after splits in its leadership emerged this year:

Mr Buhari was speaking on the sidlelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The abduction of the schoolgirls led to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, that was supported by US First Lady Michelle Obama and Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai.  

So far only one schoolgirl has been found after two years in captivity.  

In the last 18 months Boko Haram has lost most of the territory it had controlled after being pushed back in an offensive by the military of Nigeria and its neighbours.  

Image source, Reuters

Hundreds of people are now believed to have drowned in the waters off Egypt following the sinking of a boat on Wednesday.

Survivors have said that there were about 550 migrants on board, with more and more having been crammed on to the vessel as it waited to leave the port of Rosetta for Italy.

Many were Egyptians, but others were from East Africa and the Horn of Africa.

The Egyptian authorities say they have recovered 42 bodies from the Mediterranean of Kafr al-Sheikh and rescued 160 people.

A relative of one of the migrants on board the boat said that the Egyptian authorities were too slow to act:  

Those pulled from the sea have told the BBC that anybody who wanted a life jacket had to pay extra.

The European Union border agency, Frontex, has recently warned that growing numbers of migrants were leaving from Egypt.

Today's African proverb:

Image source, AFP

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