Boko Haram gunmen have abducted 16 women in a remote area of northeast Nigeria’s Adamawa state, police, a lawmaker and locals said on Thursday.
“We received report of the kidnap of 14 women and two girls by gunmen believed to be Boko Haram insurgents near Sabon Garin Madagali village”, said Adamawa state police spokesman Othman Abubakar.
“We have sent search teams to the area and have notified the military who have also deployed personnel for search and rescue operation in the bush to free the hostages. “Adamu Kamale, who represents the area in Nigeria’s lower chamber of parliament, the House of Representatives, also confirmed the abduction, which happened on Wednesday.
Locals said the hostages were seized in the bush while fetching firewood and fishing in a nearby river under the escort of two civilian vigilantes assisting the military against the insurgents.
“When the civilian vigilantes escorting the women saw the heavily armed Boko Haram fighters advancing on them they fled, leaving the women to their fate,” said Madagali resident Garba Barnabas.
Two women who escaped by jumping into the river and pretending to have drowned later returned to the village to raise the alarm, he added.