Boko Haram jihadists kidnapped 18 girls last Friday evening from two villages in southeastern Niger near the border.
About 50 armed men from the Islamic terror group reportedly arrived on horseback and stormed the villages, abducting girls. Spokesman Lamido Moumouni confirmed that the kidnappings took place near Toumour, a municipality to the east of the city of Diffa.
“We ask the government, along with the efforts undertaken so far, to take all the necessary measures to find the young women as soon as possible and bring them back to their homes,” said Moumouni. Diffa parliamentarians urged the government to send a “massive deployment of military forces.”