Armed men kidnap 15 girls in SE Niger

Armed men kidnapped 15 girls overnight in southeastern Niger, the local mayor said on Saturday.

Armed men kidnapped 15 girls overnight in southeastern Niger, the local mayor said on Saturday.

Boukar Mani Orthe, the mayor of Toumour in Niger’s Diffa region near the border with Nigeria, said about 50 unidentified armed men seized the girls in a village about 9 km (6 miles) from the town center.

The attack is believed to be carried out by Boko Haram terrorist organization, who has carried out similar terrorist attacks in Nigeria.

On Thursday suspected Boko Haram terrorists killed eight people working at French drilling company Foraco’s water well site in Toumour.

Boko Haram has been waging an insurrection in northeast Nigeria since 2009. It has launched repeated attacks into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

The violence has killed thousands of civilians and forced millions to flee their homes in the large Lake Chad basin region.