TheCable

Mike Omeri, coordinator of national information centre (NIC), has confirmed the Boko Haram abduction of hundreds of children and adults from Damasak, a town in Borno state Nigeria.  

Omeri, who made the confirmation to AP, said the sect made the abduction in order to get human shield as troops from Chad and Niger advanced toward Damasak.

“Boko Haram rushed to primary schools; they took children and adults that they are using as shields to protect themselves from the menacing advance of troops,” said Omeri.

“They are being used as shields by Boko Haram.”

On Tuesday, the sect abducted 506 women and children from Damasak, killing about 50 others.

Toumba Mohamed, a lieutenant colonel with the Nigerien army, involved in the Damasak incursion of Niger-Chad forces, who made the revelation, said residents had reported between 400 and 500 women and children kidnapped.

Though Boko Haram took the town in November 2014, Niger-Chad forces recovered the town from the sect on March 16, after over four months.

After the recovery, Mahamat Zene Cherif, Chad’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN), also said the troops from Chad and Niger discovered evidence of a mass grave.

The UN refugee agency has said the Nigerian crisis is one of the most underfunded in the world, as it requested $71m to assist displaced people in Nigeria and neighbouring countries, but only $6.8m donation has been realised.