shame on our country? No fewer than 185
women have been reported kidnapped by Boko
Haram insurgents in Gumsuri, North of Chibok in
Borno State.
The insurgents, who killed about 32 men, set fire
on the village with petrol bombs before herding
the women and children in their pickup trucks.
The Sunday incident is coming about 9 months
after over 200 schoolchildren were abducted by
Boko Haram gunmen from their hostel in
Chibok. The fate of most of the girls remains
unknown even though military authorities had
openly declared that they knew where they are
being held.
News of this latest attack, according to the
Cable News Network, took four days to emerge
because of a lack of
communication. Telecommunications towers in
the area had been disabled in previous attacks.
A local government official confirmed the
abduction: “They gathered the women and
children and took them away in trucks after
burning most of the village with petrol bombs,”
the official whose name was not given said.
He added that he learned of the attack from
residents who fled to Maiduguri, the Borno State
capital.
Boko Haram militants stormed the village from
two directions, overwhelming local vigilantes who
had repelled them over the course of the year.
A resident of Gumsuri, Umar Ari, who trekked for
four days to Maiduguri, said, “They destroyed
almost half the village and took away 185
women, girls and boys.”
Another resident, Modu Kalli, said the militants
fired heavy machine guns on the village and
poured canisters of petrol on houses before
setting them on fire.
“We lost everything in the attack. I escaped with
nothing, save the clothes I have on me,” Kalli
said.
Meanwhile, Cameroon army killed 116 Boko
Haram militants who attacked a base in the far
North of the country on Wednesday.
Cameroonian Defence ministry spokesman, Didier
Badjeck, who made this known to Reuters, added
that the damage on the Nigerian side of the
border “after the vigorous riposte of our
artillery,” was unknown.
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