Boko Haram Kills 32, Kidnaps Nearly 200 Women, Children in Nigeria

Boko Haram insurgents destroyed almost half a village in the northeast of Nigeria last Sunday and took away 185 women, girls and boys, a local resident said.

MOSCOW, December 18 (Sputnik) — At least 32 people were killed and 185 women and children were kidnapped by Boko Haram in an attack on an isolated village in the northeast of Nigeria last Sunday, CNN reported Thursday, citing local officials and residents.

"[The gunmen] gathered the women and children and took them away in trucks after burning most of the village with petrol bombs," the news outlet quoted a local official from the village of Gumsuri in Borno state who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

‎The insurgents "destroyed almost half the village and took away 185 women, girls and boys," added Umar Ari, one of many residents who fled Gumsuri to the Borno state capital Maiduguri.

Another resident reported witnessing militants firing machine gun rounds and setting local houses on fire.

News of the deadly attack on Gumsuri took four days to emerge because telecommunication towers serving the area had been disabled during previous attacks, CNN reported.

Boko Haram is a prominent Nigerian military group intent on imposing Sharia law in the country. It is blamed for over 10,000 deaths over the last five years.

The group drew international outrage after kidnapping 276 schoolgirls from Chibok village in April and subjecting them to physical, psychological and sexual abuse for refusing to convert to Islam.