Officials: Boko Haram kidnaps 185 women and children, kills 32 people

from cnn

By Aminu Abubakr and Ben Brumfield, CNN

updated 1:54 PM EST, Thu December 18, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Boko Haram overruns a Nigerian village in pickup trucks, shooting at men
• The insurgents douse houses with gasoline and set them on fire
• They round up women, girls and boys and kidnap them
• News takes days to get out, since telecommunications towers had been destroyed

Kano, Nigeria (CNN) -- Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped at least 185 women and children, and killed 32 people in a raid in northeastern Nigeria this week, local officials and residents said.

Gunmen in pickup trucks attacked the village of Gumsuri, just north of Chibok, on Sunday, shooting down men before herding women and children together.

"They gathered the women and children and took them away in trucks after burning most of the village with petrol bombs," a local government official said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

News of the attack took four days to emerge because of a lack of communication. Telecommunications towers in the region had been disabled in previous attacks.

Local officials learned of the attack from residents who fled to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, where the officials had moved a year ago to escape Boko Haram attacks.

The militants stormed the village from two directions, overwhelming local vigilantes who had repelled Boko Haram attacks over the course of the year, said Gumsuri resident Umar Ari, who trekked for four days to Maiduguri.

‎"They destroyed almost half the village and took away 185 women, girls and boys," Ari said.‎

Resident Modu Kalli said the militants fired heavy machine guns on the village and poured canisters of gasoline on houses before setting them on fire.

"We lost everything in the attack. I escaped with nothing, save the clothes I have on me," Kalli said.

Hundreds of residents of Gumsuri continue to arrive in Maiduguri, which has been struggling to accommodate thousands of residents fleeing towns and villages overrun by Boko Haram.

Cameroon: At least 116 Boko Haram fighters killed

Meanwhile, the Cameroon military says that it killed at least 116 Boko Haram fighters during a fight in northern Cameroon on Wednesday, near the border with northeastern Nigeria.

The incident began when the militant group tried to attack the Cameroonian town of Amchide, military spokesman Lt. Col. Didier Badjeck said.

One Cameroonian soldier was killed, and another was missing after the attack, according to a statement released by Badjeck. Boko Haram destroyed two trucks and stole a third, Badjeck said.

Badjeck said the military believes its artillery also inflicted unspecified damage to Boko Haram on the Nigerian side of the border during the fight.

"Our defense forces rigorously fought back this barbaric attack, and forced the enemy to retreat," Cameroonian government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said.

"This terrorist group has only one objective: to spread fear and uncertainty amongst our population. But I can assure you that they will be defeated," Bakary said.

Two months ago, the nearby area of Limani, Cameroon, was the site of a deadly clash between Boko Haram and Cameroonian forces. Eight Cameroonian soldiers and 107 Boko Haram fighters were killed during an attack by the militants that month, Cameroon state-run broadcaster CRTV reported, citing the Cameroonian defense ministry.

Campaign of violence

Boko Haram has terrorized northern Nigeria regularly since 2009, attacking police, schools, churches and civilians, and bombing government buildings.

This month, at least one female Boko Haram suicide bomber killed five people in Maiduguri. Last month, suicide bombings killed nearly 180 people. More than half of the victims died in an attack on a mosque that many suspect Boko Haram was behind.

The group has targeted mainstream Islam, saying that it does not represent the interests of Nigeria's 80 million Muslims and that it perverts Islam.

In April, Boko Haram militants drew international condemnation when they kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls, many of whom they later said they sold into slavery.

At least 5,000 people have died at Boko Haram's hands, according to a U.S. Congressional Research Service report, making it one of the world's deadliest terrorist organizations.

Aminu Abubakr reported and wrote from Kano; CNN's Ben Brumfield wrote in Atlanta. Journalist Ngala Killian Chimtom and CNN's Jason Hanna contributed to this report.

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