Four more girls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants last month have escaped their captors, the education commissioner for Nigeria’s Borno state said on Wednesday, leaving 219 still missing.
The girls were taking exams at a secondary school in the remote northeastern village of Chibok on April 14th when the Islamist gunmen surrounded it, loaded 276 of them on to trucks and took them away, according to officials.
Fifty-three escaped shortly afterwards, say authorities in Borno state, which lies at the epicentre of the insurgency.
Education commissioner Musa Inuwa told Reuters by telephone the four girls had been reunited with their parents, but he declined to give further details of their escape.
The girls’ abduction shone an international spotlight on the militants, whose violent struggle for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria has killed thousands and turned them into the biggest threat to security in Africa’s top oil-producing state.
From being a religious movement opposed to western culture – Boko Haram means “Western education is a sin” in the northern Hausa language – the sect has emerged as a well-armed insurrection with a growing thirst for blood.
Chief of defence staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh said on Tuesday the military knew where the abducted girls were but ruled out a rescue by force for fear of endangering them. Most officials think any raid to rescue them would run a high risk that the girls would be killed by their captors. Boko Haram has repeatedly showed ruthlessness in targeting civilians.
The military has been bruised by criticism at home and abroad over its failure to protect the girls and its slow response to the hostage crisis. Air Marshal Badeh was quoted in the state news agency as saying the military was doing all it could to secure the girls’ release.
“No matter the criticisms, the Nigerian Armed Forces will continue to do what it had sworn to do,” he said. “You are aware that we have international partners working with us to release our girls and our girls will be released.”
Thirty-one security personnel were killed in an attack by heavily armed Boko Haram militants in the town of Buni Yadi on Monday. – (Reuters)