Suspected Boko Haram militants 'kidnap 30
Nigerian children'
Monday, 27 October 2014 07:22

SUSPECTED Boko Haram militants have
kidnapped about 30 children in north-eastern
Nigeria despite government claims of a truce, a
local leader says.
At least 17 people were killed when the village
of Mafa in Borno state came under attack on
Thursday, he adds.
The Nigerian authorities have attributed the
attack to bandits.
The group has taken more than 500 women
and girls hostage since it began its bloody
insurgency in 2009, according to a new Human
Rights Watch report.
HRW says there have been serious failings in
the way the Nigerian authorities have
investigated the abduction of more than 200
schoolgirls in Chibok six months ago.
Its report includes detailed testimonies from
several girls who managed to escape. HRW says
the police have shown little interest in
documenting their evidence, and have treated
the case as a "low level crime".
The attack on Mafa, some 50 km (30 miles)
east of the city of Maiduguri marks the latest
in a series of assaults by Boko Haram
militants, despite the government's declaration
of a ceasefire earlier this month.
The Nigerian government says it hopes the
truce will pave the way for the release of those
seized in Chibok.
But Boko Haram has not yet confirmed the
ceasefire, and there is no indication that the
girls are any closer to being released.
"The insurgents... grabbed young people, boys
and girls, from our region," said Alhaji
Shettima Maina, local community leader for
Mafa.
He said that all girls above the age of 11, and
boys aged 13 and over, had been taken from
the village.
The authorities in neighbouring Chad said the
attacks were carried out by dissident factions
within Boko Haram.
Since a state of emergency was declared in
three of Nigeria's north-eastern states in May
2013, Boko Haram has taken many women and
children hostage and has agreed to some
prisoner swaps.
The name Boko Haram translates as "Western
education is forbidden", and the militants have
carried out raids on schools and colleges,
seeing them as a symbol of Western culture.