Islamists kill 32, kidnap scores in Nigeria: officials, witness

Boko Haram militants killed 32 people and kidnapped scores of others in an attack on the village of Gumsuri in the restive northeast, two local officials and a witness said Dec. 18.
      
The officials, who requested anonymity, said locals were still counting those abducted in the attack Sunday in the remote area but that the figure could pass 100 and included women and children.          "After killing our youths, the insurgents have taken away our wives and daughters," said Mukhtar Buba, who fled Gumsuri to the Borno state capital Maiduguri.        

Details took four days to emerge because the mobile phone network has largely collapsed in the area roughly 70 kilometres south of Maiduguri, and many of the roads are impassable.        

Gamsuri is located on the road that leads to Chibok, where Boko Haram abducted more than 200 girls from a school in April.        

One of the local officials said the village had previously been protected against Boko Haram violence by a strong vigilante force, but that they were overpowered in Sunday's attack.
      
"For the past one year, the insurgents have made several attempts to attack Gumsuri but were resisted by the gallant youths of the village," he told AFP.        

"It is sad that on Sunday, the village was subdued," he added.
      
Boko Haram has repeatedly attacked the vigilante forces which have formed across the northeast, describing them as legitimate targets for siding with Nigeria's military.