hostage

Islamists from a Boko Haram splinter group have taken large numbers of people hostage in a northeastern Nigerian town. Many of the victims had just returned to the town after fleeing a bloody attack there two years ago.

Members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) jihadi group overran the northeastern Nigerian of Kukawa late on Tuesday, taking hundreds of hostages, locals and militia sources said on Wednesday.

Local militia head Babakura Kolo said many of those seized had just been resettled in the town by the government after spending nearly two years in displacement camps after fleeing an …