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Monday 27 October 2014

Boko Haram Abducts 30 Adolescent Boys And Girls In New Attack In Borno


Around 30 adolescents -- some of them girls aged as young as 11 -- have been abducted in northeast Nigeria over the weekend by suspected Boko Haram rebels, a local village chief told reporters on Sunday.
"The insurgents... grabbed young people, boys and girls, from our region," said Alhaji Shettima Maina, who is in charge of the Mafa village around 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.
"They took all boys aged 13 and over... and all girls aged 11 and more. According to our information, 30 young people were abducted in the last two days."

Another village elder, Mallam Ashiekh Mustapha, confirmed the account.
Both men said 17 people were also killed in recent days in a Boko Haram attack on the nearby village of Ndongo.
Boko Haram, which has been waging a bloody insurgency since 2009, has been responsible for waves of attacks and abductions.

Some estimates put the number of women held by the group in the high hundreds. Most are believed to be forced into marriages with rebels.
The latest kidnapping comes despite the Nigerian government declaring a truce with the insurgents and the army retaking control of Abadam in the north-east on Saturday, according to a senior security official in the region.



But local chief Maina said his village and areas around it were targeted in nearly daily raids by Boko Haram, and many residents have fled to Maiduguri "for fear of being killed or losing their children".
He said he had pleaded for help from the Nigerian government but that so far none had been forthcoming.
Earlier this month the government and army had announced an accord with Boko Haram, whose insurgency has left more than 10,000 dead over the past five years. But on the ground in north Nigeria the truce has not taken hold as attacks have continued.

The reported retaking of Abadam, near lake Chad, from Boko Haram fighters could not be immediately confirmed by the Nigerian army and witnesses could not be reached as most of the inhabitants fled to neighbouring Niger when the Islamists had taken over the village.

-AFP

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