MALARI , Nigeria, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Armed Boko Haram militants descended on a village in northeastern Nigeria Wednesday, preaching Islamic extremism before taking with them with 40 men and boys, according to witnesses.
The incident took place Dec. 31 in the village of Malari in Borno state. Armed militants entered the town and preached the group's extremist ideology before abducting approximately 40 males aged from 10 to 23, fleeing villagers told CNN correspondents.
News of the incident wasn't revealed for days due to phone towers damaged in previous Boko Haram attacks. Mobile phone masts destroyed by Boko Haram fighters in November had prevented for days the discovery of nearly 50 Nigerian fishermen being slaughtered by the group.
The latest incident follows a mid-December raid by Boko Haram on Gumsuri, a village north of Chibok, where the group killed 32 people and abducted 185 women and children.
The military in neighboring Cameroon conducted military operations, including airstrikes, against the group in northern Cameroon near the Nigerian border last month, killing several fighters and villagers.
Considered one of the world's deadliest extremist groups, Boko Haram became known for taking hostages after it began its campaign of terror in northern Nigeria in 2009. Since then, the group has killed over 5,000 people. Most notoriously, Boko Haram fighters abducted over 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in April. The group said they had been converted to Islam and married, others sold into slavery.
