Days Later, News of Boko Haram Horror Emerges

Militants reportedly strike Nigeria's northeast in latest attack
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 18, 2014 6:13 AM CST
Boko Haram Kills 32, Grabs 185 Women, Kids
In this photo taken Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014, a burnt down armored personal carrier used by Boko Haram is seen in Mubi, Nigeria.   (AP Photo/Ibrahim Abdullaziz)

Boko Haram's latest raid in Nigeria has killed 32 people, and the militants have reportedly taken as many as 185 women and children hostage, CNN reports. News of the Sunday attack in Gumsuri, in the country's northeast, is coming out days later because of communication issues—the mobile network has "largely collapsed," Al Jazeera reports, and many roads are impassable. Telecommunications towers were taken out in past attacks. This time around, residents who fled to Borno State's capital, Maiduguri, told local officials what had happened. "They gathered the women and children and took them away in trucks after burning most of the village with petrol bombs," says one official.

"They destroyed almost half the village," adds a resident. Another, describing the machine guns they fired and the gasoline they used to set houses on fire, says, "We lost everything in the attack. I escaped with nothing, save the clothes I have on me." Hundreds of residents are fleeing to Maiduguri, which has been nearly overrun with thousands of others who have fled other villages after attacks. Nigeria has also sentenced 54 soldiers to death for refusing to fight Boko Haram. Meanwhile, neighboring Cameroon says its troops repelled Boko Haram fighters who attacked an army base, killing 116 of the insurgents in its far north. (More Boko Haram stories.)

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