KANO, Nigeria – A new Boko Haram massacre has killed hundreds in Nigeria’s northeast, as police offered a 50million naira ($F555,010) reward for information leading to the rescue of about 200 schoolgirls held hostage by the Islamists.
The latest insurgent attack targeted the town of Gamboru Ngala on the border with Cameroon, where gunmen this week razed scores of buildings and fired on civilians as they tried to flee.
Area Senator Ahmed Zanna put the death toll at 300, citing information provided by locals, in an account supported by numerous residents.
Mr Zanna said the town had been left unguarded because the soldiers based there had been redeployed north towards Lake Chad in an effort to rescue the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram on April 14.
The shocking mass abduction has sparked global outrage and offers of help from the US, Britain, France and China.
Nigeria’s response to the kidnappings has been widely criticised, including by activists and parents of the hostages who say the military’s search operation has been inept so far.
The police on Monday offered the reward for any information leading to the girls’ rescue.
President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration has sought to appear more engaged with the plight of the hostages in recent days, especially after Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau released a video threatening to sell the girls as “slaves”.
In a second kidnapping, eleven more girls aged 12 to 15 years were seized on Sunday from Gwoza, an area not far from Chibok and also in Borno state, Boko Haram’s base.
US President Barack Obama has described the Chibok abductions as “heartbreaking” and “outrageous”, and announced that a team of military experts had been sent to help Nigeria’s rescue mission.
British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday condemned the kidnappers as “pure evil” as his office said Britain was sending a team of experts to help with the kidnap response.
