Boko Haram fighters abducted around 50 loggers in northeastern Nigeria, near the border with Cameroon, according to civilian militia members and local residents.
The men were taken on Saturday while collecting firewood in Bulakesa village, about 25 kilometres from Gamboru in Borno state. Most of them were said to have come from a camp for people displaced by jihadist violence.
Militia leader Umar Kachalla said the group was rounded up by insurgents loyal to factional leader Abubakar Shekau. He said two loggers escaped and returned home with news of the abduction.
“The men were rounded up and taken away by Boko Haram insurgents and nothing has been heard from them,” militia leader Umar Kachalla said.
“Two of the loggers escaped and returned home and broke the news.
“We don't have a precise number of those taken but usually the loggers move in a group of more than 50 men,” Kachalla said.
Another militia member, Shehu Mada, said the men had been encouraged to go deeper into the bush after a military operation pushed Boko Haram out of the area. He said troops had recently dislodged the militants from Wulgo and nearby areas after repeated attacks on loggers.
Babagana Musa, a resident of Gamboru, said the number taken was likely above 50. He added that the attack emerged slowly because communication with the area remains limited.
For years, Gamboru has lacked telecom facilities after Boko Haram destroyed masts in earlier attacks, forcing residents to depend on Cameroon mobile networks.
The area has seen repeated assaults on loggers and farmers, especially around Wulgo forest, which was once a Boko Haram hideout. In April, militants killed 18 loggers on the edge of the forest near Gamboru.
Boko Haram has increasingly targeted people working in fields or gathering wood, accusing them of spying for the military and local militia. On Monday, the group killed nine farmers and abducted 12 others outside Mammanti village, near Maiduguri.
The insurgency has killed thousands and displaced more than two million people in Nigeria since 2009. In 2014, Boko Haram gunmen seized 276 schoolgirls aged 12 to 17 from Chibok, also in Borno state, in a case that drew global outrage.
Gamboru and neighbouring Ngala were seized by Boko Haram in August 2014. Nigerian troops, backed by Chadian forces, retook both towns in September 2015 after months of offensives.
Even after residents returned, the militants have continued sporadic attacks, including ambushes on troops and vehicles as well as raids on farmers.
The latest abduction came days after a Boko Haram splinter group killed at least 44 soldiers in attacks on three military bases in Metele, a village near the Niger border. On Thursday, seven employees of a French mineral and water drilling company and a local official were also killed in an attack in southeastern Niger.
The Nigerian Senate said it would visit troops fighting the insurgency in the region. Senate president Bukola Saraki said on Twitter that the visit was meant to raise morale among soldiers on the front line.
