Boko Haram Kidnaps At Least 185 In Nigeria

December 18, 2014

Nigerian officials and witnesses say suspected Boko Haram militants have killed more than 30 people and kidnapped at least 185 from a village in northeastern Nigeria.

Officials say those abducted from the village of Gumsuri included women, children, and young boys, who were carted away on trucks toward the Sambisa Forest, a notorious rebel stronghold.

The mass abduction occurred December 14, but news only emerged December 18, after survivors reached the city of Maiduguri. 

The attack bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, which in April abducted more than 200 women from a secondary school in Chibok, near the Cameroon border.

Meanwhile, Cameroon's Army said on December 18 that it killed 116 Boko Haram militants who attacked one of its bases the previous day.

Thousands of people have been killed and many hundreds abducted in the campaign for an Islamic state by Boko Haram, which has become the greatest menace to the security of oil-producing Nigeria. 

The militant group's name means "Western education is sinful."

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and BBC