Hopes of a ceasefire agreement with the Nigerian government damaged by reports of latest kidnapping in country's remote and lawless north-east
A protester addressing the "Bring Back
Our Girls" group earlier in 2014 as they march to the presidential villa
to deliver a protest letter to Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan in
Abuja Photo: AFOLABI SOTUNDE/REUTERS
Boko Haram has allegedly abducted dozens more girls in north-east Nigeria,
damaging hopes of a ceasefire agreement with the government.
The latest kidnappings took place during a large-scale assault by the
insurgent group on two villages in the remote and lawless Adamawa state,
according to residents. The attacks on the villages of Waga Mangoro and
Garta happened last Saturday - a day after the Nigerian government claimed
to have brokered a truce with the group.
Government officials said that the truce was expected to lead to the freeing
of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram from a school in the
town of Chibok, also in north-east Nigeria, in April. But doubts have since
been expressed about the credibility of the intermediary who was said to
have brokered the deal.
The latest abduction is one of a series of further mass kidnappings that the
group has carried out as part of its terror campaign, in which it has also
carried out random massacres of hundreds of people at a time. Police have
not yet confirmed details of the kidnapping, which took place in a remote
area, but locals who spoke to the BBC say most of those who taken were
teenagers or in their early 20s.
News of the new abductions came as Nigerian parliamentarians approved a $1bn
(£623m) loan - requested by the president in July - to upgrade military
equipment and train more units fighting the north-eastern insurgency.
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