More than 60 Nigerian women and girls escape from Boko Haram
More than 60 women and girls abducted by the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram two weeks ago have returned home, officials say.
Nigerian security forces and government officials had initially denied reports of another mass abduction from three villages in the north east on 22 June, according to the Associated Press. Some 63 out of 70 women are reported to have escaped.
Officials of the Borno State vigilante group hinted that the women took a chance to flee as the insurgents went to attack soldiers and police officers in Damboa on Friday night and Saturday morning.
“I have just received an alert from my colleagues in Damboa area that about 63 of the abducted women and girls had made it back home. They took the bold step when their abductor moved out to carry out an operation”, Abbas Gava, an official of the Borno State vigilante group, told Nigeria’s Premium Times.
“We don’t have the details of their escape yet, but we believe God gave them the opportunity at the time the insurgents came in their large numbers to attack Damboa where about 12 soldiers, five policemen, over 50 Boko Haram members and unspecified number of civilians were killed yesterday (Saturday).”
Boko Haram are believed to still be holding more than 200 girls kidnapped from a school in Chibok on April 22. Some 219 schoolgirls are missing.
The government and military failure to rescue them has received criticism both from home and abroad.