Boko Haram strikes again with abduction of 90 girls feared

More than 90 Nigerian schoolgirls are feared missing after Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram attacked a village in the northeastern state of Yobe, two sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Their disappearance, if confirmed, would be one of the largest since Boko Haram abducted 270 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in 2014. That case drew global attention to the nine-year insurgency, which the UN has called one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

A roll-call at the girls’ school on Tuesday showed that 91 students were absent, said the two sources. “I saw girls crying and wailing in three Tata vehicles and they were crying for help,” said a witness from the nearby village of Gumsa who was forced to show the insurgents the way out of the area and later released.

Reuters was unable to verify the witness’s account that Boko Haram had abducted girls in the attack on Monday evening. Nigerian police and the regional education ministry denied any abductions had taken place, but parents and other witnesses said the girls were still missing.

Seven parents told Reuters their daughters were among the missing. “I hope my daughter is not one of those abducted as we learned that over 90 of them were not seen after going through their register book,” one parent said. The Boko Haram militants arrived in Dapchi on Monday evening in trucks, some mounted with heavy guns, witnesses told Reuters.

The insurgents went directly to the school, shooting sporadically, sending students and teachers fleeing, the witnesses said.