Nigerian police have increased security around the capital of Abuja after last week’s ambush of presidential guards in a suburb and a deadly attack on a military checkpoint.

Nigerian media reported two soldiers were killed in the July 28 attack and others were injured. The attack came just weeks after a brazen jailbreak in Abuja that freed hundreds, including high profile terrorism convicts.

The reinforcement was announced Tuesday by national police spokesperson Muyiwa Adejobi, following a national security management team meeting held in Abuja.

Adejobi said the police have ordered a massive deployment of operatives and operational assets around the capital but did disclose how many more officers will be deployed.

Adejobi did not respond to VOA’s request for more details on Wednesday. But Abuja police spokesperson Josephine Adeh told VOA the decision to withhold operational details was in the interest of security.

“Crimes have taken a new trend and we too are strategizing, that’s all,” Adeh said. “We are doing more deployment, that is the strategy we’re taking. You’ll see more visibility policing.”

The massive deployment comes amid rising security threats in the Nigerian capital, even though authorities have told citizens not to worry.

Local media reported two soldiers were killed during an attack on a military checkpoint in Niger state near Abuja last Thursday.

It was the second recent attack in Abuja blamed on the militant group Islamic State West Africa Province. An attack last month on an Abuja prison freed about 440 inmates, including many alleged terrorists.

The American non-profit SITE intelligence group said Friday’s attack was an indication that the Islamic State group has drawn too close to the Nigerian capital.

Police spokesperson Adeh said residents should trust the security forces.

“We’ve always been assuring the residents that everything is under control but they choose to believe fake news and whatever they see on social media,” she said. “There’s no cause for alarm. People should go about their lawful businesses.”

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned latest attacks in the country and said he had “given security forces full freedom to bring an end to this madness.”

But security analyst Senator Ireogbu said authorities have failed to deliver on its promise to make the country safe.

“Though we have a very faulty security architecture, the security apparatus can effectively deal with the problem arising from these terrorists,” Ireogbu said. “The challenge we’re having is that the political will is not there, especially from the presidency, they keep on pushing, outsourcing the blames to others, not taking responsibility.”

Nigeria faces growing insecurity, especially in its northern states.

Last week, an Abuja-based security and risk management firm, Beacon Security Consulting, said violent attacks in Nigeria increased by 47% in the first half of the year compared to 2021.

A Chinese influencer is under police investigation after a clip of her roasting and eating a great white shark went viral.

Footage of the vlogger, known by her online pseudonym Tizi, showed her feasting on the predatory fish, which police in the central city of Nanchong confirmed was a great white.

“It may look vicious, but its meat is truly very tender,” Tizi said while tearing off large chunks of the animal’s barbecued meat, in a video posted in mid-July.

In the video, since deleted, she is seen unwrapping a 2-metre-long fish and lying down next to it to show it is taller than her. The shark is then sliced in half, marinated and barbecued, while the head is cooked in a spicy broth.

Great white sharks are listed as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature – one step before being classed as endangered.

Populations of sharks – some of the oceans’ most important apex predators – have been threatened over the past few decades, in particular by finning and industrial longline fishing.

In China, they are listed as protected. Illegal possession can lead to a five- to 10-year prison term.

“It is flabbergasting that an internet celebrity can eat a protected animal in front of millions in broad daylight!” wrote one commentator in response to the story.

“These uncultured attention-mongers will stoop very low to attract eyeballs!” another said.

It is unclear whether Tizi, who has almost 8 million followers, will be punished.

She told local media she acquired the shark through “legal channels”, but the local agriculture bureau said on Monday her claim was “inconsistent with the facts” and that police were investigating.

The man who fatally struck Nicki Minaj‘s father in a hit-and-run accident in New York in 2021 has been sentenced to one year in jail, PEOPLE confirms.

Charles Polevich, 71, was sentenced Wednesday following the death of Charles Maraj, 64, whom he hit with his Volvo on Long Island in February 2021. Newsday and TMZ were first to report the news.

Polevich must also pay a $5,000 fine and will have his driver’s license suspended, a spokesperson for the Nassau County Courthouse confirms.

“This is just a tragic situation and a situation which if, I think by all accounts, if [he] had stayed at the scene of this accident, this would’ve been a civil matter, not a criminal matter at all,” his attorney Marc Gann tells PEOPLE. “I don’t think he was responsible for the accident, but he was certainly responsible for the conduct after leaving the scene of the accident. And it’s my belief and strong opinion that he suffered from a medical issue, I think a heart issue, that resulted in his leaving the scene of the accident and not being able to recall his conduct or whereabouts thereafter.”

Nicki Minaj, 39, said shortly after losing her father that his death was “the most devastating loss” of her life.

“Tho I can’t really bring myself to discuss the passing of my father as yet; I can say it has been the most devastating loss of my life,” she wrote on her website in May 2021. “I find myself wanting to call him all the time. More so now that he’s gone. Life is funny that way.”

Maraj died in the hospital one day after the incident, during which Polevich struck him with his 1992 Volvo station wagon as he walked in Mineola, New York. Police later said that Polevich was “absolutely aware of what happened” in the accident, but fled the scene anyway.

“He got out of the car, looked at the deceased, got into his car and made the conscious decision to leave instead of dialing 911 and calling an ambulance for the man. He went home and secreted his vehicle,” Nassau County Detective Lt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said at a press conference shortly after the incident.

Polevich pleaded guilty in May to two felony charges, including leaving the scene of a fatal crash and tampering with physical evidence.