Boko Haram reportedly abducts 97 men, boys in Nigeria
A security source told AA that the military was aware of the attack, but not the abductions.
At least 97 men and boys have been abducted from a village in Nigeria's northern Borno State by suspected Boko Haram militants, according to local residents.
"The attack occurred on Sunday in Doron Baga village when the Boko Haram people came," Halima Alhaji Adamu, a young woman who fled the village, told a handful of reporters, including an Anadolu Agency correspondent, in provincial capital Maiduguri on Thursday.
"They were shooting into our houses and there was panic everywhere; that's when they started taking our men away," she recalled.
According to Adamu, militants abducted 97 men and boys from the village.
"They killed six of my family members," she added.
Some of the residents who fled the village arrived in Maiduguri on Wednesday after spending several days in the bush.
One of them, Fatima Sugu, said her husband – along with two of her neighbors – had been among those taken.
"They came at about 5:30am. They were shooting at everybody, even children," she said. "They were many."
A security source told AA that the military was aware of Sunday's attack on Doron Baga.
"But we did not get any report of abductions," said the source.
Doron Baga is a remote border community north of Borno.
Between May and August of last year, over 300 people were killed in the area in separate attacks by Boko Haram.
Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been killed since Boko Haram launched its violent campaign in 2009 following the extrajudicial murder of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, while in police custody.
The group has also been blamed for the destruction of public infrastructure, private businesses and the displacement of at least six million Nigerians.
By Olarewaju Kola
englishnews@aa.com.tr
