Insurgents abduct two more children

YOLA, (AP):Islamic extremists blew up a bridge, killed an unknown number of people and abducted the wife and two children of a retired police officer in northeast Nigeria, residents said yesterday as an international effort got under way to rescue 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by the militants.

In the war zone, the local government chairman said no one could count the dead because 3,000 survivors had fled Friday night's attack on the town of Liman Kara.

Fleeing residents say the insurgents blew up the bridge that links the states of Adamawa and Borno that are under a military state of emergency to halt an Islamic uprising. That would cut off any military vehicles attempting a hot pursuit.

Militants last Monday destroyed a bridge linking Nigeria to neighbouring Chad, where they have hideouts in mountain caves.

There were no details about the latest children to be abducted. The Boko Haram terrorist network has said that its abductions of family members of Nigerian officials is a tit-for-tat measure since Nigeria's military and police often detain the spouses and children of wanted suspects.

Boko Haram has staged many attacks in north eastern Nigeria over the years, a campaign of bombings and massacres that has intensified in recent times despite a strong military presence there.