Residents in the town of Damasak, Borno state, said yesterday that Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped more than 500 women and children as they left the town, when the troops from Niger and Chad recaptured the town this month.
“They took 506 young women and children. They killed about 50 of them before leaving”, a trader called Souleymane Ali, said.
“We don’t know if they killed others after leaving, but they took the rest with them.”
Reuters news agency reported that Lieutenant Colonel Toumba Mohamed, the Nigerien commander of the Niger-Chad forces in Damasak, confirmed that the residents had reported that between 400 and 500 women and children were kidnapped.