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Boko Haram kills 17 people, abducts 30 youths

Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram killed 17 people and abducted 30 young men and women in north-eastern Nigeria despite a ceasefire agreement with the government, local newspaper Premium Times reported Monday.

The militants have been attacking villages in the Mafa local government area in volatile Borno State since Wednesday last week, according to the area's chairman, Shettima Maina.

"We have received reports of series of attacks in communities near Mafa since last week, and during the attacks, Boko Haram used [the opportunity] to pick younger ladies and boys and forcefully take them away," an unnamed State Security Department official was quoted as saying.

Boko Haram looted the villages after the attacks, residents said.

"After killing our people, the insurgents also stole about 300 cows and foodstuff," said Ashiekh Mustapha, a community leader from Ndongo in the Mafa local government area.

The Borno police spokesperson Gideon Jubrin told journalists by phone that the police had not been informed about the abductions.

President Goodluck Jonathan's government said it agreed on a truce with Boko Haram on October 17 to negotiate the release of more than 200 schools girls the insurgents abducted from their dormitory in Borno State six months ago.

Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sinful," killed more than 3,000 people in Nigeria's north this year alone.

When it first launched attacks in 2009, the militants mainly targeted Christians, under the pretext of wanting to establish an Islamic state.

Since mid-2013, Boko Haram focused its attacks on government security agents as well as on civilians of both Christian and Muslim faith in their homes, markets, hospitals and schools.

 

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