News / Nigeria

Boko Haram abducts 16 women in northeast Nigeria

Friday, 25 March 2016 5:41 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 25 March 2016 5:51 AM ]

A mother holds her baby in Internally Displaced Persons Camp in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, on February 4, 2016. ©AFP

Suspected Boko Haram Takfiri terrorists have kidnapped 16 women in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Adamawa, local officials say.

Police said they have received reports of the kidnap of 14 women and two girls by gunmen believed to be Boko Haram insurgents near Sabon Garin Madagali village.

According to locals, the women were abducted in the bush Wednesday while fetching fire wood and fishing in a river.

Two women jumped into the river and pretended to have drowned. They later returned to their village and told locals about the abduction.

A police spokesman said search teams have been deployed to the region and that the Nigerian army has been informed.

The army has already been carrying out operations in the region to free hundreds of hostages held by Boko Haram.

On Thursday, the army said it had freed over 800 people held by the Takfiri group in several villages in the northeastern state of Borno.

Some 25 militants were killed in the army operations and army soldiers seized the militant group’s equipment, it said.

Young girls fleeing from Boko Haram militants walk past a burnt house at Mairi village on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Nigeria, February 6, 2016. ©AFP

Madagali is located on the border with Borno State and has been repeatedly attacked by Boko Haram militants.

The Takfiri group has abducted thousands of women, including schoolgirls, over the past few years.

Boko Haram started its campaign of militancy in 2009 with the aim of toppling the central government in Nigeria. It has so far taken the lives of at least 17,000 people and forced over 2.5 million others to flee their homes.

The terror group has pledged allegiance to Daesh Takfiri terrorists, who are mainly wreaking havoc in Syria and Iraq.

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