The
alleged kidnapping of around 30 loggers in northeast Nigeria comes
after a similar number of troops were abducted in the same region,
according to sources (AFP Photo/Handout)
Kano
(Nigeria) (AFP) - At least 31 loggers are believed to have been
abducted by Boko Haram jihadists after they went missing in northeast
Nigeria, security sources said Wednesday.
The
alleged kidnapping took place just days after 30 troops vanished
following a raid on a military base in the same region amid a surge in
bloody violence.
Sources
told AFP the loggers, mostly in their twenties, had left the town of
Gamboru on the border with Cameroon Tuesday morning to fetch firewood in
a Boko Haram hotspot.
"All
31 have not been seen since yesterday and it is obvious they were
seized by Boko Haram," said Umar Kachalla, a militia in Gamboru fighting
Boko Haram alongside the military.
The
loggers had left for Wulgo village in nearby Marte district, 15
kilometres away, with their axes and wooden carts to collect wood to
sell and raise money to buy food, Kachalla said.
Two
weeks ago, Boko Haram gunmen shot dead 10 loggers from Gamboru in the
bush outside Wulgo while collecting firewood, said another militia Shehu
Mada.
"We believe Boko Haram abducted them to use them as fighters, given their young age," Mada said.
"They
(Boko Haram) abandon the bodies of their victims when they kill them
but the fact that the bodies of the loggers have not been seen is clear
indication they were abducted," said Mada.
Boko Haram fighters still operate in hard-to-reach rural areas where military operations are minimal.
In August 2014, the group seized Gamboru, a trading hub along with the neighbouring town of Ngala.
Nigerian troops retook both towns in September 2015 with the help of Chadian forces following offensives lasting months.
Despite
the recapture of the area, Boko Haram fighters continue to launch
sporadic attacks, ambushing troops and vehicles, as well as attacking
and abducting farmers.
Last
week two farmers were shot dead by jihadists while harvesting their
crops in Bugda village outside Gamboru, according to resident Nasiru
Saidu.
Boko
Haram's eight-year insurgency against the government of Nigeria has
spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, killing around
20,000 people and displacing more than 2.6 million.
Most
of the displaced rely on food handouts from aid agencies while others
have turned to felling trees in the arid region for firewood which they
sell to buy food.
The
jihadists have increasingly targeted loggers in their armed campaign,
accusing them of spying and passing information to the military and the
local militia fighting them.
On Christmas Day the jihadists killed 25 loggers at a logging site outside the city of Maiduguri.
- Missing troops -
At
least 30 soldiers remain missing following a Christmas Day Boko Haram
attack on a military base in neighbouring Yobe state in which five
troops were killed, according to military and militia sources.
Boko
Haram jihadists in eight trucks stormed the military base in Kanamma
village on the border with Niger, promoting a twin hour gun battle, said
the sources.
The attack was repelled with aerial support.
"We lost five men in the attack and 30 still remain unaccounted for," a military officer told AFP.
"It
is not yet clear whether they are missed their way in the fighting or
were seized by the terrorists," said the officer who asked not to be
identified.
"Thirty
soldiers have not been heard of since the and there is fear they could
have been taken by Boko Haram," said militia Grema Usman.
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