Hopes of a ceasefire agreement with the Nigerian government damaged by reports of latest kidnapping in country's remote and lawless north-east
A protester addressing the "Bring Back Our Girls" group earlier in 2014 as they march to the presidential villa to deliver a protest letter to Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja Photo: AFOLABI SOTUNDE/REUTER
Boko Haram has allegedly abducted dozens more girls in north-east Nigeria, damaging hopes of a ceasefire agreement with the government.
The latest kidnappings took place during a large-scale assault by the insurgent group on two villages in the remote and lawless Adamawa state, according to residents. The attacks on the villages of Waga Mangoro and Garta happened last Saturday - a day after the Nigerian government claimed to have brokered a truce with the group.
Government officials said that the truce was expected to lead to the freeing of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram from a school in the town of Chibok, also in north-east Nigeria, in April. But doubts have since been expressed about the credibility of the intermediary who was said to have brokered the deal.
The latest abduction is one of a series of further mass kidnappings that the group has carried out as part of its terror campaign, in which it has also carried out random massacres of hundreds of people at a time. Police have not yet confirmed details of the kidnapping, which took place in a remote area, but locals who spoke to the BBC say most of those who taken were teenagers or in their early 20s.
News of the new abductions came as Nigerian parliamentarians approved a $1bn (£623m) loan - requested by the president in July - to upgrade military equipment and train more units fighting the north-eastern insurgency.
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