Chadian Soldiers 'Rescue 85Nigerians From Boko Haram'

Reports are emerging of the rescue by Chadian
troops of some 85 Nigerian villagers abducted earlier
this week by suspected Boko Haram militants.
A Nigerian security official told AFP that they had
intercepted a convoy of buses transporting gunmen
and the villagers in a routine security check.
Neither the Nigerian or Chadian militaries have
confirmed the reports.
Boko Haram is accused of kidnapping hundreds of
people in the north-east of Nigeria, and
neighbouring Cameroon.
The group, which wants to create an Islamic state in
the region, sparked international outcry when they
abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in April in
Nigeria's remote down of Chibok in Borno state.
Speedboat escape
Dozens of men, women and children were seized
from the remote fishing village of Doron Bag by boat
across Lake Chad on Sunday.
Eyewitnesses said 26 people were killed in the raid.
A senior Nigerian security official told the Agence
France-Presse news agency on Saturday that 85
people abducted in the attack were had been found
by Chadian troops.
"The convoy being led by six Boko Haram gunmen
was stopped on the Chadian part of the border along
Lake Chad for routine checks and the huge number
of people in the convoy raised suspicion," the
unnamed official said.
The six suspects were giving conflicting information
on the hostages and their destination, he added.
Another official with the National Human Rights
Commission in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state,
said some militants had escaped on speedboats
when they saw the convoy being stopped.
He said the rescued villagers, totalling 65 men and
22 women, were still in Chadian custody but that 30
people were still being held by the militants.
News of the raid on Doron Bag took days to emerge,
due to the remote region's poor communication
links.
The militants burned down some of the houses in
the village, and took mainly women and some boys
and girls, a village elder told the BBC.
Other survivors said young men were also taken
possibly to be turned into Boko Haram fighters.
A state of emergency was declared in Borno and two
other north-eastern states last year to help the
military crush the insurgency but the militants have
stepped up attacks since then.
The schoolgirls abducted in April are thought to be
held in the vast Sambisa forest, along Nigeria's
border with Cameroon.
The group has also carried out a wave of bombings
and assassinations, including that of moderate
Muslim leaders opposed to its ideology.