Boko Haram abducts more teenage girls in NE Nigeria attack: security sources

More teenage girls were abducted in the latest attack by Boko Haram militants who stormed a village in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, security sources and residents told Xinhua on Monday.

An unspecified number of teenage girls were taken away early Sunday in Bam Village, located about 170 km south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, after razing buildings and killing at least seven persons, an unnamed security officer said.

Borno State police spokesman Victor Ikuku said information about the abduction had not reached his office.

Local sources said the gunmen shot indiscriminately and sang some Arabic choruses as they unleashed terror on the hapless villagers.

Ali Mallam Ali, a local chief in the village, said most residents were still asleep when the incident occurred. "The attackers gathered all the women in the village and separated the teenage girls from the married ones before taking them away," he said.

Another resident said news of the abduction has jolted the restive Borno State, especially because more than 217 school girls abducted last year in Chibok Town of the state are still missing.

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to bring back the missing girls, although there are fears that some of them might have been taken across borders or married off by their abductors.

The West African country has vowed to rout Boko Haram from its territories by December. Endit