Not relenting on their reign of terror even during the festive period, gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members kidnapped 40 young men in Malari village, northeast Nigerian Borno state on New Year’s Eve, witnesses have reported.
Witnesses who escaped from Malari village, where the men were kidnapped, said the gunmen attacked the village around 8:00 pm, forcing away the males, aged between 10 and 23, into the nearby Sambisa forest, where the more than 200 girls kidnapped from Chibok were believed to have been taken to.
“They came in pick-up trucks armed with guns and gathered all the men in the village outside the home of the village chief where they preached to us before singling out 40 of our boys and taking them away,” Bulama Muhammad one of the witnesses said.
He said his two sons and three nephews were among those taken away by the Boko Haram gunmen.
“We believe they are going to use them as conscripts,” Bulama said.
Residents of villages close to Malari also decided to flee their villages to avoid being the next target.
There was no immediate comment on the incident from the military in Maiduguri.
Boko Haram has recently been seizing young men during raids on area villages to use as foot soldiers in its uprising aimed at establishing an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, residents said.
Suspected Boko Haram gunmen launched a deadly raid Tuesday on Kautikari village near Chibok, torched several buildings and killed as many as 15 people, according to witnesses.
There was no toll available from an official source on the raid.
