Boko Haram militants abducted at least 24 Christians – 22 women and girls along with two men – and killed four men in three separate attacks in Chibok Local Government Area (LGA), Borno State, Nigeria.
The Islamist extremists attacked the villages of Pemi on 14 January, and Kautikari on 21 January, following a previous raid on Korohuma on 30 December 2021.
Four girls were subsequently released by their abductors.
A church in the village of Pemi set on fire by Boko Haram militants
Umar Ibrahim, chairman of Chibok LGA, said that a total of 110 buildings comprising 73 houses, 33 shops and four church buildings were burned, as well as several vehicles.
A Barnabas source explained that identifying those abducted had been complicated by the number of persons displaced following previous violence. Some of those kidnapped in the attack on Pemi had taken refuge from other villages attacked by Boko Haram weeks earlier. The number of abductions, our source believes, could be higher than 30.
Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum visited Chibok town on 24 January and met the bereaved and families of those abducted in the three incursions.
Noting that four local government areas, Biu, Askira, Chibok and Damboa, had suffered repeated attacks from the militants in recent times, Governor Zulum pledged that his administration will supply security operatives with additional support.
It was from Chibok that Boko Haram extremists abducted 276 girls, mostly Christian, from a secondary school on 14 April 2014. Around 160 of the girls have subsequently escaped, been rescued or released. Most recently, Ruth Ngladar Pogu was reunited with her parents in August 2021 after seven years in captivity. Girls reported being whipped by their captors to force them into marriage, while a group of Christian girls experienced a mock execution for refusing to convert to Islam.
From Barnabas Fund contacts and other sources
Pray for the safe release of those abducted, comfort for those bereaved and wisdom for the authorities in protecting residents of Chibok from harm.
