SIXTY more women have been kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group, according to residents of the Waga Mangoro and Garta villages in the north-eastern state of Adamawa.

The news calls into question the reliability of a government-announced ceasefire that supposedly came into force last week.

Nigerian officials said a truce had been agreed and that more than 200 schoolgirls previously abducted by the group would shortly be released.

But the ceasefire was never officially confirmed by Boko Haram. No news of the missing 200 girls has surfaced since the announcement and the new kidnapping suggests the organisation, which seeks to establish an Islamist state in northern Nigeria, does not plan to lay down arms.

On Wednesday Nigeria’s parliament approved new funds for President Goodluck Jonathan to invest in military hardware to crush the insurgency, another sign the ceasefire could be a dead letter.