Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamic extremists have abducted at least eight girls and killed seven hostages after seizing a public bus in one of their most brazen attacks inside neighbouring Cameroon, residents said Tuesday.
Boko Haram, who kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria last year in an incident that drew international condemnation, have taken eight Cameroonian girls hostage, said Chetima Ahmidou, the principal of a school in the area. The girls range in age from 11 to 14 and come from the town of Koza, he said.
The bus attack took place Sunday about 11 miles (18 kilometres) from Cameroon’s border with Nigeria. Seven other hostages were slain and their bodies scattered near the border, said Ahmidou, whose brother was the bus driver and was among those killed.