Boko Haram uses human shields after another mass abduction

Almost one year after Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls in Chibok, Nigeria, the Islamic terror group abducted as many as 500 women and children to use as human shields.

Nigerian official Mike Omeri, the director of the National Orientation Agency, could not confirm exactly how many people were kidnapped from Damasak, Nigeria

“Some say 500, some 400, some say 300,” Omeri acknowledged. He said he was waiting for information from authorities in Damasak, a trading town near the Niger border that had been retaken from the Islamic extremists. According to Omeri, as multinational troops advanced on the town, Boko Haram retreated, taking hostages with them, but they remain in the region with their human shields.

Throughout its long campaign to create an Islamic state, Boko Haram has committed countless atrocities against civilians, from mass kidnappings and forced marriage to setting schools on fire with boys locked inside. In the past six years, they have killed thousands, more than ISIS and al-Qaeda, and forced many people to flee, creating a refugee crisis in Nigeria and neighboring countries.

This year, Boko Haram threatened to disrupt Nigerian elections, which were already jeopardized by the displacement of civilians. The Islamic militants ramped up attacks ahead of Feb. 14, when elections were supposed to be held. In response, the Nigerian government recently began a coordinated, multinational offensive to drive Boko Haram out of key towns ahead of the election rescheduled for March 28, according to Reuters.

Troops from Niger and Chad began ground and air attacks on Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria on March 8. They succeeded in retaking Damasak. Soldiers found the place nearly deserted and uncovered evidence of a mass grave, according to Chad’s ambassador to the United Nations. The grave contained roughly 100 bodies, some decapitated, others shot, Agence France Presse reported.

Nigerian President Jonathan Goodluck has been widely criticized for not doing enough to defeat Boko Haram. Goodluck admitted his response was too slow, but told BBC on March 20, “They are getting weaker and weaker by the day.”

“I’m very hopeful that it will not take us more than a month to recover the old territories that hitherto have been in [Boko Haram’s] hands,” Goodluck said.

John Campbell, former ambassador to Nigeria and senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Newsweek that Damasak was proof Boko Haram will survive even as the military regains ground.

“The nature of Boko Haram is that it can be driven out of a territory, but it simply melts back into the countryside or into the slums and continues on,” Campbell said. “We saw this after [former Boko Haram leader] Mohammed Yusef’s murder in 2009, when Boko Haram went underground only to re-emerge in 2011.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.