Boko Haram
members have abducted another 22 women and girls in two separate raids in
north-east Nigeria, residents and vigilantes said.
In the first
attack on Thursday, the jihadists raided the village of Pulka near the border
with Cameroon where they kidnapped 18 girls.
“Boko Haram
fighters from Mamman Nur camp arrived in pickup vans around 6am and seized 14
young girls aged 17 and below while residents fled into the bush,” a Pulka
community leader said.
“They picked
four other girls who were fleeing the raid they came across in the bush outside
the village,” said the community leader who asked not to be named for fear of
reprsals.
According to
the official, the attackers were loyal to the faction headed by Abu Musab
Al-Barnawi, the son of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf. Barnawi was appointed
last year by Isis to replace leader Abubakar Shekau, who had pledged allegiance
to the jihadist group in 2015.
Another
resident confirmed the raid and said the girls were likely to end up as brides
for the fighters. “They didn’t harm anyone during the raid and they made no
attempt to shoot people running away from the village,” said the resident.
In the second
incident outside the village of Dumba, close to Lake Chad, the jihadists killed
a herdsman who had tried to escape after refusing to pay protection money, said
Adamu Ahmed, a member of an anti-Boko Haram militia.
“When the Boko
Haram gunmen came for the money they realised he had left with everything and
they decided to go after him on their motorcycles,” Ahmed said. “They caught up
with him near Dumba where they slaughtered him and shot dead 50 of his cattle.
“They took
four women from the man’s family and the rest of the herd,” he said.
The promotion
of Barnawi revealed divisions in the group, as Shekau had been criticised for
mass killings and suicide attacks against civilians.
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