Three weeks since the militant group Boko Haram abducted hundreds of Nigerian girls from their boarding school, it appears eight more have been taken by suspected Boko Haram kidnappers.
The latest abduction occurred Sunday night in the Borno state village of Warabe, where the group currently has a stronghold in the surrounding area, the BBC reported. Two trucks with armed men arrived in the village and took animals and food in addition to eight girls between the ages of 12 and 15.
Residents in a town nearby Warabe told AFP they are afraid the militant group, which has killed thousands since its campaign started in 2009, will come after them next.
"We in Gwoza are also living in fear because of the kidnap of eight girls in Warabe," Peter Gambo told AFP, according to the BBC.
"We have no security here. If the gunmen decide to pick our own girls, nobody can stop them."
A lack of communication resources delayed reporting of the latest abduction, according to the BBC.
On the night of April 14, Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state. Some were able to escape their kidnappers, but 223 girls remain missing. Boko Haram's leader said in a video released Monday that he plans on selling the girls.
"God instructed me to sell them, they are his properties and I will carry out his instructions," leader Abubakar Shekau said according to the BBC.
Boko Haram has lately stepped up its attacks on civilians in an effort to further its campaign for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.
Critics both from and outside Nigeria have condemned the government for not doing enough to find the girls.
"These people are ideologically bankrupt," Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said of the militants, the BBC reported. "It would be a mistake for the government of Nigeria to negotiate with these people. The most important thing is to defeat them, then negotiations can come after that."
