The Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group has
released 21 of the schoolgirls abducted in 2014,
official says.
“It's true. [The] ministry of information will
release a statement on the issue later,” an
unnamed Nigerian government official in the
office of President Muhammadu Buhari was
quoted as saying by AFP on Thursday.
A local source was also cited as saying that the
girls were swapped for four Boko Harm
prisoners held in the recently liberated town of
Banki, which borders Cameroon, located in
northeastern Nigeria.
On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276
girls from their secondary school in the
northeastern town of Chibok in Borno state.
About 60 of the girls managed to escape
afterward, but the fate of the remaining others
remains unknown.
The Bring Back Our Girls, which has
campaigned for releasing the girls form the
grips of terrorists over the past two years, said
in a statement that the identity of the girls had
yet to be confirmed.
“We cannot confirm anything yet,” said Aisha
Yesufu, the campaign’s leader.
In August, the terror group released a new video
purportedly showing some of those girls and
called for the release of comrades in exchange
for the freedom of the abductees.
A masked militant claimed in the video that
some of the girls were still alive, and the others
had been killed in airstrikes carried out by the
Nigerian air force on the Boko Haram
compound.
Nearly 20,000 people are said to have been
killed in the six-year Boko Haram militancy,
mainly in northern Nigeria. Buhari has given his
military commanders until early November to
end the Boko Haram violence.
released 21 of the schoolgirls abducted in 2014,
official says.
“It's true. [The] ministry of information will
release a statement on the issue later,” an
unnamed Nigerian government official in the
office of President Muhammadu Buhari was
quoted as saying by AFP on Thursday.
A local source was also cited as saying that the
girls were swapped for four Boko Harm
prisoners held in the recently liberated town of
Banki, which borders Cameroon, located in
northeastern Nigeria.
On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276
girls from their secondary school in the
northeastern town of Chibok in Borno state.
About 60 of the girls managed to escape
afterward, but the fate of the remaining others
remains unknown.
The Bring Back Our Girls, which has
campaigned for releasing the girls form the
grips of terrorists over the past two years, said
in a statement that the identity of the girls had
yet to be confirmed.
“We cannot confirm anything yet,” said Aisha
Yesufu, the campaign’s leader.
In August, the terror group released a new video
purportedly showing some of those girls and
called for the release of comrades in exchange
for the freedom of the abductees.
A masked militant claimed in the video that
some of the girls were still alive, and the others
had been killed in airstrikes carried out by the
Nigerian air force on the Boko Haram
compound.
Nearly 20,000 people are said to have been
killed in the six-year Boko Haram militancy,
mainly in northern Nigeria. Buhari has given his
military commanders until early November to
end the Boko Haram violence.
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