Women and children

UN: Boko Haram kidnapped 200 people in Nigeria

(Bild: AFP)

According to estimates by the United Nations (UN), more than 200 people were kidnapped in Nigeria last week. They are internally displaced persons - i.e. people who are on the run within the country - the UN announced on Wednesday.

An exact number of those abducted is not known. The mass abduction took place last week Thursday, February 29, in Borno State. The victims, mainly women and children, were abducted as they ventured out of the camp for internally displaced persons in search of firewood, the UN statement said. 

"While an undetermined number of older women and children under the age of ten are reported to have been released, numerous IDPs are still missing," said the UN Coordinator for Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall.

350,000 killed by terrorist militia Boko Haram
The jihadist terrorist group Boko Haram has been active in north-eastern Nigeria for over a decade, its violence has claimed more than 350,000 lives and displaced three million people. Killings, kidnappings, forced recruitment and sexual and gender-based violence occur time and again. According to the United Nations, women and children are disproportionately affected.

The mass abduction of people, sometimes from schools and camps for internally displaced persons, is part of Boko Haram's violent approach to imposing strict Islamic rule in Nigeria. In April 2014, Boko Haram caused worldwide horror with the abduction of 276 schoolgirls. Even ten years after the incident, more than 100 girls are still missing.