(CNN) — Despite government claims of a ceasefire, gunmen believed to be Boko Haram fighters attacked two villages and a town near the border with Niger, killing at least 8 and kidnapping others, residents told CNN Saturday.
Boko Haram has not yet responded to the government’s announcement Thursday of a ceasefire, which an official said heralded peace in the country after some five years of conflict with the Islamic extremist group.
In one attack, militants ambushed travelers in the Borno state village of Shaffa, residents of the area said, killing eight people and abducting others.
Boko Haram gunmen also stormed the village of Waga in Adamawa state, abducting a number of residents, including women, residents there told CNN.
Insurgents also occupied the town of Abadam, near Niger, after killing an unknown number of residents in their attack, residents said.
Nigerian officials said Friday that the government had reached a ceasefire agreement with Boko Haram, which has been waging an insurgency in the country’s north since 2009.
The deal, the government said, includes the release of more than 200 kidnapped girls whose abduction from their boarding school shocked the world in April.
The deal, first reported by Agence France-Presse, came Thursday night after a month of negotiations with representatives of the group, said Hassan Tukur, principal secretary to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Nigerian officials met with Boko Haram in Chad twice during talks mediated by Chadian President Idriss Deby, according to Tukur.
Read full: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/18/world/africa/nigeria-boko-haram-ceasefire/
Read: NewsRescue–BokoHaram Ceasefire: How Stephen Davis Exposed Ihejirika, Sheriff, Goodluck Jonathan & Idriss Deby
