Armed group abducts scores of boys in northeast Nigeria; Boko Haram blamed

Gunmen abducted 40 male youths from a remote Nigerian village in a raid that residents and a security source blamed on Boko Haram, the extremist group that has gained worldwide notoriety for mass kidnappings and killings.

Witness Mohammed Zarami said the gunmen arrived at the northeastern village of Malari around 8 p.m. on Wednesday local time, heavily armed but did not fire shots or kill anyone.

"People ran out of their houses in fear but they warned no one should disobey them," Zarami told Reuters in the northeast city of Maiduguri, where he had fled to on foot.

"They took away over 40 youths mostly between the ages of 15 to 23. As I am talking to you now, there is no youth in our village," he said.

Boko Haram fighters have abducted hundreds of people in the past year. Boys are recruited as fighters and the girls as sex slaves, security officials say.

The group's five-year-old uprising is seen as the gravest security threat to Africa's top economy.

In April, the group seized 200 Nigerian schoolgirls in a similar attack. The parents of those children have said they are appealing to the United Nations for help after losing hope that the Nigerian government could rescue them.

Reuters