More than 200 kidnapped Nigerian girls and women remain missing, and two weeks ago more than 60 girls and women abducted by Islamic extremists managed to escape, according to the Associated Press.
The AP reports that Nigerian security officials and federal authorities have denied the reports of the mass abduction on June 22 from three villages in the northeastern state of Borno. Chibok government chair Pogu Bitrus said that he verified the number of women and girls who escaped by sending a representative to meet with some of them at a hospital in Lassa.
Boko Haram extremists have waged an insurgency for five years in northern Nigeria, demanding the establishment of an Islamic state. More than 2,000 people have died so far this year in the uprising, compared to approximately 3,600 total deaths in the past four years, according to AP.
Boko Haram received global condemnation for the April 15 abductions of more than 200 schoolgirls from a school in Chibok. There were 395 students at the school, 119 escaped during the siege and 57 who escaped in the first couple days of the kidnapping, leaving 219 unaccounted for. Boko Haram wants detained fighters released in exchange for the Chibok girls, but Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has reportedly refused to consider a deal.
The government told AP that they are following leads but doesn't know anything about the latest mass abduction. The Nigerian military reported that in recent days soldiers killed at least 50 insurgents and lost five troops and their commander when confronted by hundreds of Boko Haram fighters on a military base in Damboa.
Meanwhile the United States has sent aid in the form of investigators from the military to see about the rescue of the women and girls. Hopefully advances are made and the girls are returned home for this has been going on for too long. #BringBackOurGirls
No comments:
Post a Comment