国际英语新闻:Gunmen kill 17, abduct 30 teenagers in Nigeria's Borno State attacks

ABUJA, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen killed at least 17 people and abducted 30 teenagers in renewed attacks in northeastern Nigeria's state of Borno, epicenter of Boko Haram violence in the West African country, a local government chief said on Sunday.

The gunmen raided villages in Maffa area, located in the central part of the restive northern province, from Thursday to Saturday, said Shettima Maina, the local government chief of Maffa told reporters in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State.

"The dead victims were mostly from Ndongo community which was attacked last Thursday," he said, noting the remains of the victims were buried on Friday.

Most of the teenagers abducted were of age 13 and above, Maina said. "Once they (the attackers) invade a community, they abduct all boys aged 13 years and above and take them to their base," he added.

The government official said that the abducted boys were being conscripted by the insurgents. Due to the attack, he said many residents of the area had already fled to Maiduguri for fear of being killed or losing their children to the insurgents.

"We have reported the problem to higher authorities but no action has been taken yet," he said, while appealing to the Nigerian government and armed forces to act quickly to save the lives of the people.

Located near the Nigeria-Cameroon border town of Gamboru, which has also suffered many attacks by Boko Haram, Maffa, is a remote area in Borno State. In August, military forces fought hard to save the area from being raided by Boko Haram.

It is unclear if the latest attack and abduction were perpetrated by Boko Haram, which has yet to release more than 200 school girls of Chibok who were abducted in their dormitories in April, in the same state.

Analysts in Africa's most populous country said the news of the latest abduction of girls might have negative effect on the ongoing cease-fire talks between the Nigerian armed forces and Boko Haram.

Ten days ago, Nigeria's Defense Chief Alex Badeh announced that an agreement had been reached with the Boko Haram insurgents to end the hostilities and release the school girls who were earlier abducted by the terror group.

Badeh said he issued a directive to the members of the armed forces to comply with the cease-fire agreement, and that the Boko Haram, which seeks to enshrine the Islamic Sharia law in the Nigerian constitution, had also assured that the school girls and all other people in their captivity are all alive and well.