Suspected fighters of the Islamic State in West Africa (Iswap) have invaded a town in northeastern Nigeria, taking hundreds of civilians hostage, local and security sources reported to AFP on Wednesday.
"Iswap" terrorists "took control of Kukawa (in the Lake Chad region) on Tuesday evening, and took hostage hundreds of civilians", who had just returned from returning to their homes after being displaced in a camp because of the violence for two years, said Babakura Kolo, leader of a civilian militia.
"We don't know what they're going to do with them"
The people of Kukawa had just returned to their homes after living for two years in a camp for internally displaced persons, due to the violence ravaging the Lake Chad region and in particular Borno State, in northeast Nigeria.
A local chief who was among them, and who managed to escape, said that they had returned in early August in the hope of finally being able to cultivate their land, "but immediately ended up in the hands of the insurgents".
"We do not know what they will do with them, but we hope that they will not do them any harm," said this community leader, who prefers to remain anonymous.
Fighter jets deployed to "deal with the situation"
A security source confirmed the attack to AFP and said fighter jets had been deployed from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, to "deal with the situation".
Kukawa is located near the large town of Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad, an area controlled by the Iswap group, which split from Boko Haram in 2016. The group, affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group, leads from many attacks especially against the Nigerian army, and killed hundreds or even thousands of soldiers.
It also controls medium-sized towns and villages, and thousands of civilians live under its control.
Over 36,000 people have been killed since 2009 in violence in Nigeria
More than 36,000 people have been killed since 2009 in the violence in Nigeria and more than two million people still cannot return to their homes.
The United Nations said last week that 10.6 million people (out of a total of 13 million), or "four in five" depend on humanitarian aid for their survival in Nigeria's three worst-hit states. the jihadist conflict (Borno, Yobe, Adamawa). "This is the highest number ever recorded since we started operations five years ago."
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- Hostage taking
- Jihadists
- Terrorism
- World