Suspected Boko Haram militants abducted 60 women from two villages in northeastern Nigeria, a security official said, less than a week after the government announced it had reached a truce with the Islamist group.
The women were taken over the weekend from the Madagali district of the northeastern state of Adamawa, the Nigerian security official said, asking not to be identified because he isn’t authorized to speak to reporters.
The area has been under the militants’ control for about two months, the official said by phone, adding that the attackers entered the villages on motorbikes and in vans. Military spokesman Major-General Chris Olukolade, based in the capital, Abuja, didn’t answer calls to his mobile phone today.
On Oct. 17, the government said the Islamist group had signaled willingness to discuss the release of more than 200 schoolgirls that Boko Haram fighters abducted from the town of Chibok in April and threatened to sell into slavery.
Boko Haram, which roughly translates as “Western education is a sin,” has killed more than 13,000 people since 2009 in its campaign against the Nigerian state, President Goodluck Jonathan said last month, before the government announced it had agreed a cease-fire with the militants.
Since then, persistent violence in the northeast has eroded confidence in the cease-fire claim, with analysts and community leaders questioning the legitimacy of the reported deal.
via@Bloomberg