Gunmen have kidnapped 40 boys and young men from a remote village in Borno State.
An eyewitness, Mohammed Zarami, told Agence France-Presse that the gunmen arrived at the village of Malari around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, heavily armed but did not fire shots or kill anyone.
“People ran out of their houses in fear but they warned that no one should disobey them,” Zarami told Reuters in the northeast city of Maiduguri, where he had fled to on foot.
“They took away over 40 (male) youths mostly between the ages of 15 to 23. As I am talking to you now, there is no youth in our village,” he said.
Though the military authorities in the state was yet to comment on the incident but residents of Malari and nearby villages have reportedly fled, fearing further attacks and abductions.
One of the people who fled from a nearby village of Mulgwi, Alaramma Babagoni, said, “When we heard of the kidnap of 40 boys in Malari by Boko Haram, we decided to leave because we could be the next target. Boko Haram has been abducting young men from villages in the area because we are close to their stronghold in Sambisa forest.”
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