Eighty-five Nigerians have been rescued by Chadian troops after having been kidnapped last week by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram, security and human rights sources in Nigeria said Saturday.
On the shores of Lake Chad late Sunday through Monday, the Doron Baga fishing and farming village was stormed by dozens of Boko Haram members, with 91 young men and boys plus several women being taken away, residents said, adding that 28 residents had been killed by raiders along with scores of homes being burned.
The hostages were loaded onto motorboats and ferried into neighboring Chad, with residents claiming that they feared the hostages would be forcefully conscripted as foot soldiers, CNN reported.
A convoy of buses carrying 85 Nigerians "believed to have been kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists from Baga," was reportedly intercepted by Chadian security officials Sunday, a Nigerian security source said. But when the convoy was seen being questioned by Chadian soldiers, their captors sped off with the rest of the hostages on motorboats.
"The convoy being led by six Boko Haram gunmen was stopped on the Chadian part of the border along Lake Chad for routine checks and the huge number in the convoy raised suspicion," said the source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the issue, according to CNN. The rescue of the 63 male and 22 female hostages was confirmed by an official of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Maiduguri.
However, more than 30 hostages were still being held by Boko Haram, the source, who asked that his name not be used, added.
Boko Haram, a Hausa term meaning "Western education is sinful", is loosely modeled on Afghanistan's Taliban and has been waging a five-year armed insurgency to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. The militant group claims it is fighting enemies who have wronged its members through violence, arrests or economic neglect and corruption.
In April, the group made headlines for kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls from a boarding school in the town of Chibok. Authorities claim that Boko Haram has killed more than 12,000 people and displaced more than half a million residents.
