Boko Haram Reportedly Abducts 60 Women And Girls In Nigeria, Even As Ceasefire Deal Still Mooted

Suspected Boko Haram militants have reportedly kidnapped more women and girls from two villages in Northern Nigeria, days after Nigeria's government announced that a deal to free 200 schoolgirls the group kidnapped over six months ago was nearly done.

Residents of Wagga told the AFP news agency that gunmen suspected to belong to the Islamist group had abducted about 40 women from their village.

Lazarus Baushe, a community said: “They left 1,500 naira [approximately $9] and some kola nuts in each home where they seized a woman, apparently as a bride price.”

Another group of women reportedly were seized from Gwarta, a village in Northern Nigeria near the border with Cameroon on Saturday. The New York Times reported that villagers told Roman Catholic Bishop Steven Mamza that gunmen on motorcycles stormed the village, killed four men by slitting their throats,and then went house-to-house searching for women.

According to reports, the kidnappers abducted 40 women and girls from Gwarta, but released the older abductees, keeping 20 hostage.

John Kwaghe, three of whose daughters were abducted in the attack on Gwarta told Reuters: "We are confused that hours after the so-called cease-fire agreement has been entered between the Federal Government and Boko Haram insurgents, our girls were abducted by the insurgents," Kwaghe said.

"We urge the government to please help rescue our daughters without further delay, as we are ready to die searching."

The authorities have yet to officially acknowledge the latest reports of kidnappings.

The reports of the abduction come despite claims from Nigeria's government that a deal to free the more than 200 missing schoolgirls kidnapped from the village of Chibok was near to fruition.

David Cook, a professor at Rice University who studies jihad, wrote in a blog post for CNN that he has doubts as to whether the cease-fire deal will be successfully completed.

“It remains to be seen whether this truce will actually materialize, whether it is merely an election ploy for Nigeria's embattled President, Goodluck Jonathan, and most crucially whether it will bring about the release of numerous captives taken by Boko Haram during the past year," Cook wrote.

News of the abductions came as Nigeria's parliament approved a $1 billion loan to upgrade the capacity of the country's military who are fighting the group, according to the UPI news agency.

Boko Haram, whose name translates to “Western education is forbidden,” has been fighting an insurgency in the North of Nigeria since 2009. The group wants to establish an Islamic state in the region.