‘60 girls and women abducted’ in new attacks on Nigeria villages

Sixty girls and women and 31 boys have been kidnapped in a new series of attacks in northern Nigeria, according to reports today.

At least four people were killed in the raids on villages in Borno state – where the Chibok schoolgirls were abducted – witnesses said.

Boko Haram, which is still holding the almost 200 girls it grabbed in April, is believed to be behind these latest kidnappings in Kummabza, 95 miles from the state capital Maiduguri.

Kummabza resident Aji Khalil told the Associated Press the abductions happened on Saturday in an attack in which four villagers were killed. Khalil is a member of one of the vigilante groups that have had some success in repelling Boko Haram attacks with primitive weapons.

Nigerian security forces have not confirmed the kidnappings. But a senior local government councillor, who did not want to be named, said people had been taken and elderly survivors of the attacks had walked 15 miles to safety.

A BBC reporter said dozens had been killed in attacks on villages in Borno state in the past week.

Gordon Brown, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, was in Nigeria last week to launch the Safe Schools Initative.

Today he said: “Any adbuction is a tragedy for families who will be fearful of what is happening to their daughters and sons.

“We need to do more to help the Nigerian government locate and rescue those who have been kidnapped and, with our support for Nigeria, to show Boko Haram that we will not yield to terrorism.”

Pictures and names of some of the missing Chibok girls were released on June 21 to remind the world of their plight.

About 650,000 Nigerians have been displaced in northern Nigerian as a result of Boko Haram.

The figure came from Angele Dikongue-Atangana, Nigerian representative of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

She said: “According to an intelligence assessment of north-eastern Nigeria, at least 650,000 persons have been displaced within the boundary of Nigeria. And what is of most concern to the UNHCR in Nigeria today are these internally displaced persons.”