Reports are emerging of the rescue by Chadian troops of
some 85 Nigerian villagers abducted earlier this week by
suspected Boko Haram militants.
A Nigerian security official told AFP that they had
intercepted a convoy of buses transporting gunmen and
the villagers in a routine security check.
Neither the Nigerian or Chadian militaries have
confirmed the reports.
Boko Haram is accused of kidnapping hundreds of people
in the north-east of Nigeria, and neighbouring Cameroon.
The group, which wants to create an Islamic state in the
region, sparked international outcry when they abducted
more than 200 schoolgirls in April in Nigeria's remote
down of Chibok in Borno state.
Speedboat escape
Dozens of men, women and children were seized from the
remote fishing village of Doron Bag by boat across Lake
Chad on Sunday.
Eyewitnesses said 26 people were killed in the raid.
A senior Nigerian security official told the Agence
France-Presse news agency on Saturday that 85 people
abducted in the attack were had been found by Chadian
troops.
Nigeria imposed a state of emergency in Borno state last
year to deal with the Boko Haram insurgency
"The convoy being led by six Boko Haram gunmen was
stopped on the Chadian part of the border along Lake
Chad for routine checks and the huge number of people
in the convoy raised suspicion," the unnamed official
said.
The six suspects were giving conflicting information on the
hostages and their destination, he added.
Another official with the National Human Rights
Commission in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, said
some militants had escaped on speedboats when they saw
the convoy being stopped.
He said the rescued villagers, totalling 65 men and 22
women, were still in Chadian custody but that 30 people
were still being held by the militants.
News of the raid on Doron Bag took days to emerge, due to
the remote region's poor communication links.
The militants burned down some of the houses in the
village, and took mainly women and some boys and girls, a
village elder told the BBC.
Other survivors said young men were also taken possibly to
be turned into Boko Haram fighters.
A state of emergency was declared in Borno and two other
north-eastern states last year to help the military crush
the insurgency but the militants have stepped up attacks
since then.
The schoolgirls abducted in April are thought to be held in
the vast Sambisa forest, along Nigeria's border with
Cameroon.
The group has also carried out a wave of bombings and
assassinations, including that of moderate Muslim
leaders opposed to its ideology.
Source: http://m.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28824379