Dozens Of Women and Children Abducted by Insurgents In Adamawa

Boko Haram insurgents have abducted dozens of women and children in Gulak, the headquarters of Madagali LGA of Adamawa State, local and security sources said.

Sources in the area told LEADERSHIP that the insurgents have conducted a house-to-house search for young people whom they reportedly loaded in their waiting vehicles and fled with.

A fleeing resident, Abubakar Gulak, said the insurgents came to the area chanting “Allah Akbar” (God is the greatest), while shooting sporadically.

“They started loading our women and children into their vehicles, threatening to shoot whoever disobeyed them. Everybody was scared,” Gulak said.

A security source who didn’t want to be named said they were aware of the incident but were still investigating the details.

“Yes, we have been told that the insurgents have kidnapped several women and children, though we are yet to get the full details,’’ said the source.

A former chairman of Madagali LG, Mr Maina Ularamu, said: “The information I have is that they selected some women and locked them in the local government secretariat.”

Another resident who escaped the abduction, Bitrus Maina, said about 100 youth including men and women in the town had been kidnapped.

A senior citizen of the area told reporters in a telephone interview that he was trapped in a village near Gulak before his subsequent escape on Sunday.

“The situation is getting worse by the day; our hope is that this problem will end one day,” he said.

A resident of Husra village, near Uba, said: “They conducted preaching sessions to attract converts to their sect but people only listened out of fear.

‘’They next day they asked if anybody wanted to join them but there was no response, so they selected many healthy-looking young men and asked them to go with them. One of the victims is my relative who did body-building exercise regularly.

Boko haram has been controlling areas like Madagali, Gulak and Michika.

Source: Leadership