Oh No!! Boko Haram Reportedly Kidnaps 400 Women And Children In Damasak

Boko Haram militants have reportedly kidnapped more than 400 women and children in Borno State. They were kidnapped from Damasak, one of the towns freed this month by troops from Niger and Chad, Reuters reports.

There was no immediate official confirmation of the figure but residents confirmed the sad development.

"They took 506 young women and children (in Damasak). They killed about 50 of them before leaving," a trader called Souleymane Ali told Reuters in the town. "We don’t know if they killed others after leaving, but they took the rest with them."

Troops from Niger and Chad last week found the bodies of at least 70 people in an apparent execution site under a bridge leading out of Damasak, where the streets remain strewn with debris and burnt-out cars after the fighting.

Ali said his wife and three of his daughters were among those seized.

"Two of them were supposed to get married this year. (Boko Haram) said 'They are slaves so we’re taking them because they belong to us'," he said.

Mohamed Ousmane, another trader, said the militants took his two wives and three of their children.

A 40-year-old resident who gave her name as Fana said fighters had rounded up captives in the main mosque before taking them out of town. She said she saved her two children by hiding them in her house.