Reports say Aphodiya Garba Maida, daughter of a pastor with the EERN (Église Évangélique de la République du Niger), was on her way to school when she was kidnapped by three women and three men. She was able to use her mobile phone to send a message, saying that she is being held in an unknown location.
The kidnappers are believed to be affiliated with the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram.
The Diffa area borders Nigeria to the south and Chad to the east and has seen an upsurge in attacks by Boko Haram terrorists in recent months. Three months ago, a group of terrorists kidnapped 30-40 women and children and executed nine other people in the village of Ngalewa, while a month earlier two female suicide bombers attacked a UNHCR camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kablewa.
Boko Haram launched its first attack on Niger territory in February 2015, targeting Diffa and the nearby town of Bosso, causing thousands to flee. Following the violence, several NGOs had to suspend operations and all the churches in the region have been closed down.
Information about Boko Haram Islamic extremist terrorist group
Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist terrorist group based in northeastern Nigeria, is also active in Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon. The group had alleged links to al-Qaeda, but in March 2015, it announced its allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL (or ISIS).Boko Haram which has killed about 10,000 people and displaced 2.3 million others from their homes, was ranked as the world's deadliest terror group by the Global Terrorism Index in 2015.
The group have carried out mass abductions including the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in April 2014. By January 2015, the Islamic extremist terrorists gained control of swathes of territory in and around their home state of Borno, estimated at 50,000 square kilometres (20,000 sq mi).
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