Boko Haram kill 14 civilians in Niger - 338 people rescued by Nigerian troops

Some of the 338 people who were held by Boko Haram after they were rescued during an army operation and evacuated to Mubi. (AFP)

NIAMEY, Oct 28, (Agencies): Suspected Boko Haram militants killed at least 14 people in an overnight attack on a village in southeastern Niger, security sources said on Wednesday. “They executed at least 14 civilians,” said one of the sources, referring to the village of Ala in the Diffa region near the Nigerian border. A second security source said that the assailants had looted the village and then set fire to the houses. Niger’s army is pursuing the militants, he added.

Niger’s Diffa region has suffered dozens of cross-border attacks this year by the Islamist militant group whose stronghold in northeast Nigeria lies just a few kilometres away. Parliament on Tuesday approved a law prolonging a 15-day state of emergency for Diffa by three months in a bid to boost security

Also:LAGOS: Nigerian troops have rescued 338 people, mainly women and children, held by Boko Haram Islamists around the group’s Sambisa forest stronghold in the restive northeast, the army said Wednesday. “The (army) unit ... rescued 338 persons that were held captive by the terrorists,” the army said of an operation on Tuesday, adding that 192 of the survivors were children and 138 women.