Suspected Boko Haram gunmen kidnapped eight girls aged 12 to 15 from a village near one of their strongholds in northeast Nigeria overnight, adding to hundreds already taken, police and residents said on Tuesday.
'They were many, and all of them carried guns,' said Lazarus Musa, a resident of Warabe, where the attack happened. 'They came in two vehicles painted in army colour. They started shooting in our village.'
A police source, who could not be named, said the girls were taken away on trucks, along with looted livestock and food. The Islamist rebels are still holding more than 200 girls they abducted from a secondary school on April 14. All-night meeting
Earlier, protest leaders in Nigeria who were arrested after demonstrating over the abduction of nearly 300 teenage schoolgirls were released from a police station in Abuja.
Saratu Angus Ndirpaya of Chibok town said State Security Service agents drove her and protest leader Naomi Mutah Nyadar to a police station on Monday after an all-night meeting at the presidential villa in Abuja, the capital.
She said police immediately released her, but that Nyadar was kept in detention.
A legal adviser for the women said later on Monday that Nyadar had been released, after being held for 'close to seven hours without at least even allowing her opportunity of meeting with her lawyer, no legal representation.'
The adviser, Femi Adedeji, added: 'It's a terrible thing for citizens protesting peacefully to be arrested, without giving cogent reason for such arrest. And such person detained for close to seven hours without at least even allowing her opportunity of meeting with her lawyer, no legal representation. We just found out that she has been released, after some period of time.'
Ndirpaya said that President Goodluck Jonathan's wife, Patience Jonathan, had ordered the arrests of two protest leaders, accused them of belonging to Boko Haram and expressed doubts there was any kidnapping.
It was unclear what authority Patience Jonathan would have to give such orders, since there is no office of first lady in the Nigerian constitution.
'I think it's appalling, for the fact that we were called, were invited to go and have a meeting with the First Lady (Patience Jonathan) to shed light on what is happening,' said protester Fatima Zanna Gana.
'Apparently they painted a picture that they were not aware of the gravity, of the girls .... They did not even believe it, that the girls were abducted.'
Nigeria's police have said more than 300 girls were abducted from a school in the remote northeast three weeks ago
Of that number, 276 remain in captivity and 53 escaped.
The mass abduction and the military's failure to rescue the girls and young women have ignited national outrage with demonstrations in major cities.
Protesters accused President Goodluck Jonathan of insensitivity to the girls' plight. President Jonathan has said his administration is doing everything possible.
With files from The Associated Press
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