Nigeria's government has denied that militant
Islamist group Boko Haram abducted 500
children from the north-eastern town of
Damasak.
A former resident said on Tuesday that the militants
had taken away about 500 boys when they fled the
town earlier this month.
Government spokesman Mike Omeri said the number was lower, but he could not say exactly how many had been seized.
Regional forces recaptured Damasak, a trading town, earlier in March.
Mr Omeri said that the militants released some
women and children when they fled the town, but not those "they had married in the period of occupation".
The militants were using them as "protection" and
the government had ordered "full military
intervention" to secure their release, he said.
Damasak is in Borno state near Niger's border and is about 200km (120 miles) from the state's main city of Maiduguri.
Damasak residents lived under Boko Haram's rule
until regional troops regain control of the town
Boko Haram's leaders said kidnapped women had
been "married" to militants
Damasak businessman Malam Ali, whose brother is
among those missing, told the BBC Hausa Service on Tuesday that young boys had been put in a
madrassa, or Islamic school, by Boko Haram when
they took over the town at the end of last year.
Following the recapture of the town, those boys,
numbering about 500, had not been accounted for,
he said, while Reuters news agency quoted residents as saying more than 400 women and children had been abducted.
Chibok girls
BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says the conflict has torn many families apart.
As towns have changed hands it has been impossible to work out how many people have been killed and how many are missing, he adds.
Last week, the decomposing bodies of more than 70
people were discovered under a bridge near
Damasak.
Nigeria's military has still failed to free more than
200 girls abducted more than a year ago from
Chibok, also in Borno state.
The abductions caused international outrage, and
foreign governments promised to help Nigeria 's
military find the girls.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has said the
girls have been married off.
The group has waged a six-year insurgency in Nigeria to create an Islamic state, killing thousands of people and capturing many towns and villages.
Regional forces launched an offensive about six
weeks ago to regain territory ahead of delayed
presidential and parliamentary elections, now due on Saturday.
Boko Haram at a glance:
>Founded in 2002, initially focused on opposing
Western-style education
>Boko Haram means "Western education is
forbidden" in the Hausa language
>Launched military operations in 2009 to create an
Islamic state
>Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria
>Has also attacked police and UN headquarters in
capital, Abuja
>Abducted hundreds, including at least 200
schoolgirls
>Pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

www.bbc.com/news/world-africa 32058172?ocid=socialflow_twitter

K

GEJ agent are lieing bcs of election

no time

sai buhari

Nothing new there. Shebi that that was how they first denied the Chibok girls were missing. Till today many of GEJ Supporters still don't believe those girls ever existed let alone kidnapped.

500 to me this is pure exaggeration.

Be sincere

wakacome:
[b]That was how the government denied the kidnapping of the chibok girls before they now later foolishly admitted that it happened.....the same way they denied the chibok girls is the same way most nigerians will deny goodluck jonathan at the polls by making sure they use their votes to chase him out from aso rock and send him and his cluelessness to otuoke...




Wakacome..[/b]

u just take those words out of my mouth. oga jona's govt. is a govt. of denyability. Abeg we don tire.
SAI BABA insha ALLAH