Boko Haram kidnaps 8 more girls in Borno

No fewer than eight girls have been abducted in a fresh attack on a village in the southern part of Borno State by suspected Boko Haram insurgents, residents and security sources said.

The latest incident, according to a security source, occurred in remote Warabe village in Gwoza Local Government of Area of the state. Warabe is a few kilometres from the hilly Gwoza town located at the Nigeria-Cameroon border area, about 160 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital.

Though the incident was not immediately reported due to poor telephone services in the area, residents who called journalists in Maiduguri yesterday said about 20 armed men reportedly invaded the village on Sunday night, wielding their guns dangerously and warning villagers against fleeing. “They ransacked people’s houses and shot sporadically though not attempting to kill anybody.

“Some Boko Haram invaded our village (Warabe) on Sunday night, abducted eight of our girls and then carted away our foodstuffs and livestock. As I am talking to you now, I have moved to Gwoza for safety,” a source said.

Neither the military nor the police in the state could confirm the incident as at press time because themobile telephone was inaccessible.

The Gwoza abduction came 22 days after a similar incident at Chibok, also in southern Borno, where over 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped by the insurgents in a dusk attack. A man suspected to be Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram, had in a video released by the sect yesterday, claimed responsibility for the abduction of Chibok girls, saying it was done to demonstrate the sect’s abhorrence for western education. It was uncertain at press time whether the insurgents were also responsible for the latest abduction of the eight girls.