Residents: 50 bodies found in Nigeria violence [View all]

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By HARUNA UMAR

BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — Residents of a Nigerian town attacked by Boko Haram criticized security forces for failing to intervene even though they had been warned that the militants were nearby. At least 50 bodies have been recovered, many horribly burned, in the town.

The attack on Gamboru, in remote northeastern Nigeria near the border with Cameroon, was part of the Islamic militants' relentless campaign of terror that also snared more than 300 teenage girls who were abducted last month from a boarding school. Most of those girls remain captives, likely in the vast Sambisa forest in northeast Nigeria.

The death toll from the Monday afternoon attack in Gamboru was initially reported by a senator to be as many as 300, but a security official said it is more likely to be around 100. Some Gamboru residents said bodies were recovered from the debris of burned shops around the town's main market, which was the focus of the attack.

Gamboru resident Abuwar Masta said the bodies were found after the market reopened on Wednesday as health workers, volunteers and traders searched for missing people. He said most of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. Some of the victims were traders from Chad and Cameroon, he said.

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Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140508/nigeria-violence-305aeda719.html

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South Africans protest in solidarity against the abduction three weeks ago of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram and what protesters said was the failure of the Nigerian government and international community to rescue them, during a march to the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa Thursday, May 8, 2014. The kidnapping has ignited a viral social media campaign that has brought renewed attention to Boko Haram's campaign of violence, and protests around the world. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)