A drone strike, believed to be of U.S origin, in southern Somalia has killed 30 members of the al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab, including several top leaders, Kenyan officials said Thursday according to VOA.

Sources however say the U.S. military has not commented on media reports that a U.S. drone carried out the attack late Wednesday near the town of Bardere in the Gedo region. According to VOA, the slain al-Shabab leaders included Jama Dere and Ismael Jabhad, said Mwanda Njoka, spokesman for Kenya’s ministry of interior and coordination of national government.

In what analysts describe as a surprise, U.S. President Barack Obama applauded Russian President Vladimir Putin for Russia's role in achieving the Iran nuclear deal in a phone call Wednesday, according to  Xinhua.

Sources say Mr. Obama and his Russian counterpart Putin discussed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached among the European Union, Iran, and the P5+1 group, namely Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, regarding Iran's nuclear program, according to a press release of the White House.

Gunmen stormed four villages in northern Nigeria's restive Borno state killing at least 43 people, local official and residents said Tuesday according to Xinhua.

Nigeria’s police reportedly said the attacks took place last weekend in Monguno, an area that has suffered deadly violence in the past. But Xinhua says Borno State police chief, Aderemi Opadokun, declined to give the exact casualty figures but said the militant group Boko Haram was suspected to be behind the attacks.

Somali based rebel group al Shabaab militants have reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack on Kenyan police vehicle which killed at least two officers and a civilian on Monday, Reuters reported.

Kenyan police reportedly said a bomb blew up their vehicle in Kenya's coastal county of Lamu. At least four others were wounded in the midday blast that a senior police officer said was caused by an improvised explosive device planted in the middle of the road.

At least 13 people including a Chadian soldier  were killed by a twin suicide attack by suspected Boko Haram militants in the northern Cameroon town of Fotokol late on Sunday killed, authorities said according to Reuters.

Reuters reported Cameroon president's office as saying in a statement on Monday that 10 civilians, a Chadian soldier and the two assailants were killed in the attack. Seven soldiers, four from Chad and three from Cameroon, were among 17 people wounded in the attack, the statement reportedly said.

Curtis Jackson III, alias 50 Cent, has filed for federal bankruptcy protection Monday, days after a jury ordered him to pay $5 million in an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit, AP reported.

According to reports, the rapper filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Hartford. 50 cent reportedly owns a 50,000-square-foot mansion in nearby Farmington.AP says the filing lists both the assets and liabilities for the "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" artist as between $10 million and $50 million and indicates his debts are primarily consumer and not business related.

If US president Barack Obama fails to visit their university when he visits Kenya this month, 18 students of University of Nairobi (UON) said they will commit suicide, Uganda’s Daily Monitor reported Monday.

According to reports,  the Chairman of Students Organization of Nairobi University (SONU), Mr Babu Owino,  said at least 18 students have threatened to kill themselves if president Obama does not visit their university.

A U.S. State Department statement has said U.S strongly condemns the recent al-Shabab attack on two hotels and an African Union force position in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

VOA says at least 16 people were killed in the attacks on the Weheliye and Siyad hotels on Friday; adding that mortar rounds were also fired Friday at Mogadishu's former football stadium, which now serves as a key AU base. No casualties were reported in that attack.