Suspected Boko Haram Gunmen Kidnap 8 More Girls in Nigeria

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen kidnapped eight girls from a village near one of their strongholds in northeastern Nigeria overnight, police and residents said on Tuesday.  The abduction of the girls, aged 12 to 15, follows the kidnapping of more than 250 other schoolgirls by the Islamist militant group last month.

Lazarus Musa, a resident of the village of Warabe, told Reuters that armed men had opened fire during the raid.  “They were many, and all of them carried guns. They came in two vehicles painted in army color. They started shooting in our village,” Musa said by telephone from the village in the hilly Gwoza area, Boko Haram’s main base.

A police source, who could not be named, said the girls were taken away on trucks, along with looted livestock and food.  Earlier Tuesday, analysts said an announcement by the terrorist group Boko Haram earlier this week may have been timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum for Africa that begins in Abuja, Nigeria, on Wednesday.

Militants threaten to sell girls

On Monday, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau threatened in a video released to the media to sell the girls abducted from a secondary school on April 14 “on the market.” No girls appeared in the video.  Nigerian officials said despite the growing public outrage over the abduction, the World Economic Forum for Africa will open as planned.

The international conference will draw more than 1,000 delegates and many heads of state.  However, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said Boko Haram activities will not disrupt the forum.  He went on to say, “Terror will not stop us from work. The act of terror in Africa is diversionary … organized by a group of people that don’t want the continent to move forward.  Whenever any country is seeing any sign of progress, you see these criminal elements that will come up to retard the country.”
Anger over lack of action

But activists and families said the girls remain missing and parents across Nigeria are increasingly angry with the lack of action by Goodluck’s government.  Critics also blame the Nigerian government for failing to stop Boko Haram.  The militants have been blamed for thousands of deaths in the past five years. Two bombings within the past month at a bus station in the capital, Abuja, killed nearly 100 people.

Boko Haram said it wants to install its harsh version of Islamic law, but Clement Nwankwo, who directs the Policy and Legal Advocacy Center in Abuja, said the violence may be partially driven by politics.  Nwankwo went on to say, “For us who are asking questions, we are asking, ‘Did somebody set off this bomb in order to blame the opposition for it?’ In which case, perhaps, it’s not even Boko Haram. These are the questions Nigerians are askino.”

As world leaders arrive in Abuja for the economic forum, authorities are tightening security, preparing to virtually shut down the city for the conference.  The World Economic Forum says there are security concerns, but cancellations for the event were no more than usual.

Source: Voice of America