[Dhaka Tribune] Islamic bully boyz have kidnapped 60 more girls and women and 31 boys from villages in northeast Nigeria... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border...
, witnesses said yesterday. Security forces denied the kidnappings. Nigeria's government and military have been widely criticized for their slow response to the abductions of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped April 15.
There was no way to safely and independently confirm the report from Kummabza, 150 kilometers (95 miles) from Maiduguri, capital of Borno state and headquarters of a military state of emergency that has failed to curtail near-daily attacks by Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
fighters.
Kummabza resident Aji Khalil said Tuesday the abductions took place Saturday in an attack in which four villagers were killed. Khalil is a member of one of the vigilante groups that have had some success in repelling Boko Haram attacks with primitive weapons.
A senior local councilor from the village's Damboa local government told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that abductions had occurred but insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to give information to news hounds. He said elderly survivors of the attack had walked some 25 kilometers (15 miles) to the relative safety of other villages.
The Damboa council secretary, Modu Mustapha, said he could not confirm or deny the abductions and directed a news hound to the council chairman, Alamin Mohammed, who did not answer phone calls or respond to text messages. The new kidnappings add to Nigeria's crisis over the April kidnappings and the ongoing violence from the Islamic bully boy group Boko Haram.
A strategy to rescue the girls appears to have reached an impasse. Nigeria's military has said it knows where they are but fears their abductors would kill them if any military action is taken. Boko Haram has been demanding the release of detained members in exchange for its hostages but President Goodluck Jonathan
... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
has said he will not consider a swap.