MAIDUGURI, July 7 - More than 60 women and girls abducted last month by suspected Boko Haram militants in northeast Nigeria have escaped their captors, sources said Sunday, but more than 200 schoolgirls are still being held by the Islamists. Local vigilante Abbas Gava said he had "received an alert from my colleagues ... that about 63 of the abducted women and girls had made it back home" late Friday. A high-level security source in the Borno state capital Maiduguri, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, confirmed the escape. Gava, a senior official of the local vigilantes in Borno who are working closely with security officials, told journalists the women escaped when their captors went out to fight. "They took the bold step when their abductors moved out to carry out an operation," he said. Clashes took place between the Islamists and the army late Friday after an attack by the insurgents in the town of Damboa, where 53 of them and six soldiers were killed, the army had said. The rebels attacked barracks and a police station while most of the troops were out on patrol in surrounding villages. Spokesmen for the armed forces or the government could not be reached Sunday for comment on the latest developments in the kidnapping cases.More than 200 still missing Activists of the Bring Back Our Girls movement meanwhile tried to march on the presidential palace in Abuja Sunday to pressure the government over the fate of more than 200 girls kidnapped in Chibok, in Borno, on April 14, but were asked by security forces to turn back. "It's 83 days today that the girls have been abducted," activist Aisha Yesufu told the press. "We have been coming out for 68 days and nobody has really listened to us," Yesufu told reporters after the march. That is why the group "decided that we should just take the protest back to the president so that he will know that we are still out there after the 68 days that we have been coming out daily". Of the 276 girls seized in April, 57 have escaped while 219 are still missing. Villagers from the town where Boko Haram abducted the girls appealed to the United Nations on Friday to intervene because of the worsening violence in their region. The community claimed militants were running amok in their area, seemingly with impunity. A state of emergency imposed in Borno and neighbouring Yobe and Adamawa in May last year forced its fighters out of urban centres. But that has come at the expense of protecting people in the countryside, where attacks have increased dramatically, almost on a daily basis, analysts say. Amnesty International claimed in May that military commanders in Borno had advance warning of the Chibok abduction but could not muster enough troops to send. The insurgents' kidnap of the schoolgirls in April provoked international outrage and drew unprecedented global attention to the Islamist uprising. Security experts say the overstretched and under-resourced military is incapable of waging an effective counterinsurgency against the Boko Haram militants, who have killed thousands in their five-year campaign for an independent Islamic state in the north.
More
Vietnam health ministry proposes sanctioning e-cigarette smokers
Vietnam currently has no penalties for users of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products
Read more
Sweet smell of success for niche perfumes
Produced in small batches with high-quality, natural or rare ingredients, niche perfumes are becoming big business even while retaining their exclusive nature
1 day agoHow Finnish youth learn to spot disinformation
Finland wants to promote media literacy as a civic skill
1 day agoSanta Claus global flight to deliver presents underway
Santa Claus took off early Christmas Eve aboard his reindeer-powered sleigh to deliver presents around the world
1 day agoDead body found in wheel well after United flight lands in Hawaii
It is not clear how or when the person accessed the wheel well
7 hours agoScientists observe 'negative time' in quantum experiments
'Negative time' exists in a tangible, physical sense, deserving closer scrutiny
6 hours agoHighlights
Vietnam health ministry proposes sanctioning e-cigarette smokers
Vietnam currently has no penalties for users of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products
Latest news
Vietnam health ministry proposes sanctioning e-cigarette smokers
Vietnam currently has no penalties for users of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products
EU tightens control on Vietnamese durians over excessive pesticide residues
This decision comes as part of stricter measures to ensure compliance with EU safety regulations
2 Iranians arrested for banknote scam, theft in southern Vietnam
They pretended to ask about the value of Vietnamese bills and then stole money from victims
Scientists observe 'negative time' in quantum experiments
'Negative time' exists in a tangible, physical sense, deserving closer scrutiny
Tears, prayers as Asia mourns tsunami dead 20 years on
Ceremonies were held across Asia to remember the 220,000 people who were killed two decades ago
Vietnam’s rice export price lowest in 19 months
The export price of Vietnam’s five-percent broken rice dropped US$17 to $485 per metric ton
Intense cold weather in northern Vietnam expected to persist into early 2025
Hanoi residents will experience chilly weather, with lows of 12-15 degrees Celsius
Dead body found in wheel well after United flight lands in Hawaii
It is not clear how or when the person accessed the wheel well
Seasonal blooms patterned on Eastern ceramics at Ho Chi Minh City exhibition
The exhibition runs until the end of March
Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan, killing 38
Twenty-nine survivors received hospital treatment