week by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram, security and
human rights sources in Nigeria said Saturday.
Dozens of Boko Haram insurgents stormed the Doron Baga
fishing and farming village on the shores of Lake Chad late
Sunday through Monday and took away 97 young men and
boys plus several women, residents said. The raiders killed 28
residents and burned scores of homes, according to residents.
The hostages were loaded onto motorboats and ferried into
neighboring Chad, with residents saying they feared the
hostages would be forcefully conscripted as foot soldiers.
Chadian security officials reported intercepting a convoy of
buses carrying 85 Nigerians" believed to have been
kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists from Baga," a Nigerian
security source said.
"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 in the convoy raised
suspicion," said the source, who asked not to be named
because he was not authorized to speak on the issue.
An official of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in
Maiduguri confirmed the rescue of the 63 male and 22 female
hostages.
The source, who asked that his name not be used, said more
than 30 hostages were still being held by Boko Haram. He
said their captors sped off with them in motorboats when they
spotted the convoy being questioned by Chadian soldiers.
Boko Haram has been waging a five-year armed insurgency to
create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. The group has
carried out series of abductions, including the April kidnapping
of more than 200 schoolgirls from a boarding school in the
town of Chibok.
Boko Haram uses its hostages as conscripts and sex slaves,
according to authorities. They say Boko Haram has killed more
than 12,000 people and displaced more than half a million
residents..
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