Nigerian girls escape Boko Haram, say sources

Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram, from a video posted by the group. Photo: AP

Maiduguri: More than 60 women and girls abducted last month by suspected Boko Haram militants in north-east Nigeria have escaped their captors, sources say.

Local vigilante Abbas Gava said he had 'received an alert from my colleagues ... that about 63 of the abducted women and girls had made it back home'.

A high-level security source in Borno state capital Maiduguri, who requested anonymity, on Sunday confirmed the escape.

Mr Gava, a senior official of the local vigilantes in Borno State who are working closely with security officials, told journalists the women escaped when their captors went out to fight.

'They took the bold step when their abductors moved out to carry out an operation,' he said.

Clashes took place between the Islamists and the army late on Friday after an attack by the insurgents in the town of Damboa, where more than 50 Islamists were killed, the army had said.

Spokesmen for the armed forces or the government could not be reached on Sunday for comment.

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen had kidnapped at least 20 young mothers near a town in north-east Nigeria in early June, but at the time there were conflicting reports about how many were abducted.

Those kidnappings around the village of Garkin Fulani, eight kilometres from Chibok in Borno state, were part of a spate of abductions in the area. More than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped from the same area in April.

AFP