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Boko Haram kidnap 25 girls in Nigeria
Militants abducted 25 girls and continue to conduct acts of violence, despite a ceasefire deal with the government
Rallies have been called to protest the ongoing violence and demanding the release of abducted girls
Suspected Boko Haram militants kidnapped at least 25 girls in an attack on a remote town in northeastern Nigeria, witnesses said, despite talks on freeing over 200 other female hostages they seized in April.
Parents said the kidnappers came late in the night, forcing all the women to go with them, then later releasing the older ones.
The attack cast further doubt on government reports that it has secretly reached a temporary ceasefire with the rebels to secure the release of more than 200 schoolgirls they are holding hostage.
Nearly a week after the government announced a ceasefire deal with Boko Haram, which it said would include the release of the girls kidnapped from the secondary school in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria in April, there is still no sign of them being freed.
Talks to release the schoolgirls are taking place this week between the government and a Boko Haram representative in the Chadian capital N’Djamena, but they are shrouded in secrecy.
In a separate attack, a bomb exploded late on Wednesday at a bus station in the town of Azare in northern Nigeria’s Bauchi state, killing at least five people and wounding 12, police said. They did not say who was behind the attack, although Boko Haram is likely to be the prime suspect.
