Over 300 Killed in New Massacre by Boko Haram

A new massacre by the Boko Haram in Nigeria has left several hundred people dead. Residents and local officials say dozens of Boko Haram gunmen attacked the northeast town of Gamboru Ngala on Monday. At least 336 people were killed and hundreds of homes and vehicles set on fire. Bodies were still lying in the street two days later. The town sits on the Cameroon border and was reportedly targeted because some residents were assisting the Nigerian army.

News of the latest attack comes amidst global outcry over the Boko Haram’s kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls in the same region. On Wednesday, protests continued in the capital Abuja calling on the Nigerian government to step up its search for the missing girls.

Aisha Sa’ad: “I wish, but I think they should do more. I don’t think they are doing enough, but I wish they can do more, but may be something that is beyond their control. So I wish, I hope, I am praying, and please, asking them, please try more, try more and get these girls out, get them out of those monsters, from these monsters’ hands, please. I’m so angry because it’s just too much. It’s too much for a mother to go through this.”

Nigerian police have offered a $300,000 reward for information leading to the girls’ rescue. A video from the Boko Haram this week threatened to sell the girls into captivity amidst rumors that’s already happened. The Boko Haram seized 11 more girls in another kidnapping on Sunday. At a rally outside the Nigerian Consulate in Washington, D.C., Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee addressed reports the kidnapped girls have been sold off for as little as $12.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: “We are anguished, as mothers, grandmothers and lovers of children, that this is what the children, the girls in Nigeria, are worth. And so our first command and demand is to use all resources to bring the terrorist thug to justice.”