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Suspected Boko Haram gunmen kidnap over 100 women, children in Nigeria

by Reuters
Thursday, 18 December 2014 13:38 GMT

This May 5, 2014 photo shows a protester in Lagos holding a sign demanding the release of abducted school girls from Chibok village. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye

Image Caption and Rights Information

(Corrects name of village, paragraph 1)

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Suspected Boko Haram gunmen kidnapped more than 100 women and children and killed 35 people during a Sunday raid on the remote northeast Nigerian village of Gumsuri, a security source and resident said on Thursday.

News from remote parts of Nigeria that are cut off from mobile communications sometimes takes days to travel.

The five-year-old campaign for an Islamic state by Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sinful", has become the greatest menace to the security of Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer.

Thousands of people have been killed and many hundreds abducted, raising questions about the ability of security forces to protect civilians.

"They gathered the people, shot dead over 30 people and took away more than 100 women and children in two open-top trucks," Maina Chibok, who did not witness the attack but is from Gumskiri and visited family there shortly aftewards.

Although no one has claimed it yet, the attack bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, which in a similar assault abducted more than 200 women in April from a secondary school in Chibok, very near this latest attack on the Cameroon border.

"They also burnt down a government medical centre, houses and shops," Chibook said.

A security source confirmed that more than 100 had been abducted and said 35 people had been killed, including the district head. (Reporting by Lanre Ola; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Larry King)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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