At least 200 people, mostly women and children, abducted by extremists in northeastern Nigeria

By CHINEDU ASADU
Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The United Nations office in Nigeria says at least 200 people, mostly women and children displaced by violence in northeastern Nigeria, were abducted by Islamic extremists while they were searching for firewood near the border with Chad. The victims were taken hostage after leaving several displacement camps to look for firewood in Borno state’s Gamboru Ngala council area. Locals are blaming the attack on the Islamic extremist rebels who launched an insurgency in Borno in 2009 seeking to establish their radical interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, in the region, resulting in a conflict that has killed at least 35,000 people and displaced more than 2 million.