Some 40 boys were abducted in Malari Village in Borno State on December 31, 2014.

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen have continued their hideous act of abductions with the latest being some 40 boys and young men kidnapped in Malari Village of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria on December 31, 2014.

BBC reported people from the remote Malari Village who fled to the State capital, Maiduguri as saying that the gunmen abducted the boys on New Year’s Eve. Reuters cited witness Mohammed Zarami who said the gunmen arrived at the village of Malari around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, December 31, 2014, heavily armed but did not fire shots or kill anyone. 

Mr Zarami further said people ran out of their houses in fear but the gunmen warned that no one should disobey them. “They took away over 40 (male) youths mostly between the ages of 15 to 23. As I am talking to you now, there is no youth in our village," he reportedly said. According to BBC reports, the kidnappers came in pick-up trucks and ordered all males to come out and listen to a sermon. As they came out, the gunmen rounded up young men and took them to a nearby forest.

Reports say that in November 2014 suspected Boko Haram militants stormed Gumsuri Village, killed 33 villagers and kidnapped about 200 people. Boko Haram militants are notorious in carrying out kidnappings with that of the more than 200 school girls in Chibok in April 2014 having caught the world’s attention and sparked international outrage. Security officials say Boko Haram abducted hundreds of people in 2014 and boys are recruited as fighters and the girls as sex slaves.