Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped at least 185 women and
children, and killed 32 people in a raid in northeastern Nigeria this week,
local officials and residents said.
Gunmen in
pickup trucks attacked the village of Gumsuri, just north of Chibok, on Sunday,
shooting down men before herding women and children together. Continue...
"They
gathered the women and children and took them away in trucks after burning most
of the village with petrol bombs," a local government official said on
condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
News of
the attack took four days to emerge because of a lack of communication.
Telecommunications towers in the region had been disabled in previous attacks.
Local
officials learned of the attack from residents who fled to Maiduguri, the
capital of Borno state, where the officials had moved a year ago to escape Boko Haram attacks.
The
militants stormed the village from two directions, overwhelming local
vigilantes who had repelled Boko Haram attacks over the course of the year,
said Gumsuri resident Umar Ari, who trekked for four days to Maiduguri.
"They
destroyed almost half the village and took away 185 women, girls and
boys," Ari said.
Resident
Modu Kalli said the militants fired heavy machine guns on the village and
poured canisters of gasoline 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.
Hundreds
of residents of Gumsuri continue to arrive in Maiduguri, which has been
struggling to accommodate thousands of residents fleeing towns and villages
overrun by Boko Haram.
Cameroon:
At least 116 Boko Haram fighters killed
Meanwhile,
the Cameroon military says that it killed at least 116 Boko Haram fighters
during a fight in northern Cameroon on Wednesday, near the border with
northeastern Nigeria.
The
incident began when the militant group tried to attack the Cameroonian town of
Amchide, military spokesman Lt. Col. Didier Badjeck said.
One
Cameroonian soldier was killed, and another was missing after the attack,
according to a statement released by Badjeck. Boko Haram destroyed two trucks
and stole a third, Badjeck said.
Badjeck
said the military believes its artillery also inflicted unspecified damage to
Boko Haram on the Nigerian side of the border during the fight.
"Our
defense forces rigorously fought back this barbaric attack, and forced the
enemy to retreat," Cameroonian government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary
said.
"This
terrorist group has only one objective: to spread fear and uncertainty amongst
our population. But I can assure you that they will be defeated," Bakary
said.
Two
months ago, the nearby area of Limani, Cameroon, was the site of a deadly clash
between Boko Haram and Cameroonian forces. Eight Cameroonian soldiers and 107
Boko Haram fighters were killed during an attack by the militants that month,
Cameroon state-run broadcaster CRTV reported, citing the Cameroonian defense
ministry.
Campaign
of violence
Boko
Haram has terrorized northern Nigeria regularly since 2009, attacking police,
schools, churches and civilians, and bombing government buildings.
This
month, at least one female Boko Haram suicide bomber killed five people in Maiduguri.
Last month, suicide bombings killed nearly 180 people. More than half of the
victims died in an attack on a mosque that many suspect Boko Haram was behind.
The group
has targeted mainstream Islam, saying that it does not represent the interests
of Nigeria's 80 million Muslims and that it perverts Islam.
In April,
Boko Haram militants drew international condemnation when they kidnapped more
than 200 schoolgirls, many of whom they later said they sold into slavery.
At least
5,000 people have died at Boko Haram's hands, according to a U.S. Congressional Research Service report,
making it one of the world's deadliest terrorist organizations.
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