By Olarewaju Kola
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria
Forty girls have been abducted in multiple raids in Nigeria's northeast Adamawa State by suspected Boko Haram insurgents, local sources said.
"Some insurgents who rode on motorcycle raided some communities at Waga Mongoro district of Magali local government and took away up to 40 girls late Wednesday," a senior police officer told Anadolu Agency on Thursday, requesting anonymity for not being authorized to talk to the media.
Isa Tukur, a resident of Kwabapale, one of the attack communities, said the gunmen they believed to be Boko Haram militants had supervised the emptying of food silos in the communities before ordering the girls to board their vehicles.
"We are talking about over 40 girls taken," he told AA Thursday night by phone.
"Earlier over the weekend, many women had also been seized," Tukur asserted.
Up to 60 women were kidnapped in Adamawa on Saturday, with locals fingering Boko Haram militants.
Adamawa is among the three northeast states currently under state of emergency imposed since December 2012 to help fight the Boko Haram insurgency. The other states are Borno and Yobe.
Last Friday, Nigeria announced that it had reached a cease-fire with Boko Haram.
The deal reportedly stipulated the safe return of over 200 schoolgirls abducted by the group over six months ago in exchange for detained militants.
But since the announcement, Boko Haram insurgents have attacked several communities in Borno and Adamawa states, leaving scores dead.
The purported cease-fire continues to draw widespread skepticism, particularly after the recent eruption of fresh hostilities.
Government sources, however, insist the cease-fire is genuine, stressing that talks with Boko Haram were still underway in Chadian capital Ndjamena.
Nigeria has battled Boko Haram for the past five years, with thousands killed and millions displaced by the violence, which has been limited largely to the country's volatile northeastern region.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
