Boko Haram Kidnap Another 40 Women After Cease Fire Agreement

Militants of Boko Haram, have abducted 40 women following an attack on the Village of Wagga in Adamawa state, a move that has further dented the ceasefire deal said to have been struck with the Nigerian military.

The women were abducted in an attack on Saturday, according to people familiar with Wagga.
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Enoch Mark, whose daughter and niece are among the 219 schoolgirls who have been held by Boko Haram since mid-April, after they were captured from Chibok Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state was one of the people who spoke on the fresh abductions.

Since Friday, when Nigeria’s most senior military officer, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh announced the ceasefire with the insurgents, Boko Haram has only observed it in the breach, by stepping up attacks on Nigerian communities.

To further make Nigerians gobsmacked, is the revelation that Nigerian military officers on the frontline claimed that they were yet to receive operational order that they cease hostilities.

“Honestly, we are yet to receive any operational order on the ceasefire.As such, we are battle-ready and would confront the terrorists if we see them,” a senior military officer told the AFP.

Another senior intelligence official in the region also indicated to AFP that he had not received word about the purported ceasefire.

On Sunday evening, troops from the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army fought dozens of suspected members of Boko Haram in the town of Damboa in Borno state, witnesses and security sources said.

Earlier, a group of insurgents attacked the Borno town of Sabon Gida, said one military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

“The fight was tough and it seems the insurgents wanted to destroy everything in Sabon Gida. They came around 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) and by 6:00 pm, the fight was over,” added local trader Bilyaminu Aliyu.

Boko Haram took over Damboa, which is about 90 kilometres (56 miles) southwest of the Borno state capital Maiduguri, in July, destroying much of the town and forcing thousands to flee.

The group’s leader Abubakar Shekau claimed that they left voluntarily but the military said they recaptured it in early August. Residents have since begun returning.

Elsewhere, locals said that dozens of suspected Boko Haram gunmen had stormed the town of Abadam, north of Maiduguri near Lake Chad, on Thursday, before the supposed ceasefire.

A number of residents said at least 30 people were killed on Thursday and Friday — after the purported deal — while hundreds of others were forced to flee across the border into neighbouring Niger.

“We all heard of the ceasefire over the radio but it seems the insurgents are not perturbed at all,” another resident, Mallam Babagana, said on Sunday.

“To me, they (the militants) don’t even care about it because they increased their attacks from Friday, the very day the ceasefire was announced. By Saturday, they hoisted their flags.”

On Friday, eight people were also killed on a road in the Borno state village of Shaffa near where a prominent Muslim leader, the Emir of Gwoza, was ambushed and killed by Boko Haram fighters in May.

Babagana said local hunters on their way to recover the bodies of the eight fought battles with militants on Saturday in Azul, also in the Hawul local government area.

“The unrelenting terrorists waylaid our members at around 9:00 am and serious fighting ensued,” said Babagana, who heads a local vigilante group.

“We lost four of our members and we killed three terrorists.”