Muslim militant group Boko Haram attacked a village near Chibok in northeastern Nigeria, killing 10 people and abducting 13 women over the weekend, the west African nation’s military said.
The militia were targeting more than 890 herdsmen and 5,000 livestock rescued from the group’s captivity along the border between Nigeria and Cameroon and also attacked a military base on the fringes of Sambisa forest, army spokesman Sani Kukasheka Usman said.
“The troops killed several of them, including two senior commanders that led the attack,” Usman said in an e-mailed statement.
Nigeria’s military said it may have killed Abubakar Shekau, the disputed leader of the Boko Haram, during an airstrike on the Sambisa forest in the northeastern state of Borno on Friday last week.
The Nigerian authorities have reported Shekau’s probable death at least twice before, including in 2014 and 2013.
Shekau took over the militant group in 2009, when it began an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people in a bid to impose its version of Islamic law on Africa’s most populous nation.
During a visit to Nigeria on Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry issued a warning to Nigeria’s military regarding human rights issues.
Nigeria’s military has been dogged by reports that, in its fight with Boko Haram, its soldiers kill civilians, torture prisoners and subject former captives or people fleeing militants to lengthy detention while trying to determine whether they are sympathizers.
Kerry dedicated much of a speech to urging Nigeria to prioritize employment and education for young people so they do not join groups like Boko Haram.
He assailed Boko Haram’s “nihilistic view of the world.”
“They actually teach girls how to hold a bomb under their armpits so that the explosives remain steady. They show teenagers how to use swords to decapitate,” Kerry said. “We might as well ask how anyone could be brainwashed into such atrocities, but because the children are so young and because the abuse that they suffer is so great, even brave souls can be broken.”
Additional reporting by NY Times News Service
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