Boko Haram Kidnapped 172 More Women and Children, Officials Report

[niyad]

Boko Haram Kidnapped 172 More Women and Children, Officials Report




According to local officials and residents, Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped at least 172 women and children and killed 35 people last week. “They gathered the women and children and took them away in trucks after burning most of the village with petrol bombs,” a local government official reported anonymously.

Reports of the attack in northeastern Nigeria took days to become public news due to a lack of communication – it has been known that telecommunications towers in the area were disabled in previous attacks. Residents from the area fled to another area, where local officials finally learned of the attack.

Local vigilantes from the village of Gumsuri who were previously able to hold off the insurgents’ attacks were reportedly overwhelmed by the most recent attack. ”They destroyed almost half the village and took away 185 women, girls and boys,” Umar Ari, a resident who fled the area, said.?

Boko Haram has not officially taken responsibility for this most recent attack, but the attack closely resembled the group’s common methods. According to residents, gunfire was preceded by insurgents shouting, “God is great!”

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http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2014/12/23/boko-haram-kidnapped-172-more-women-and-children-officials-report/