Nigerian military: Over 100 girls abducted from school are freed, 8 ...
CNN-
Kano, Nigeria (CNN) -- Only eight of the 129 Nigerian school girls abducted this week by Boko Haram militants are still missing as more of them ...
Nigerian military: Over 100 girls abducted from school are freed, 8 still missing
updated 5:36 PM EDT, Wed April 16, 2014
Terrorist group abducts Nigerian girls
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Only eight of the 129 school girls abducted are still missing, says the military
- The girls were seized by Boko Haram militants, witnesses say
- The students were loaded onto buses and trucks, says one who escaped
- Military search teams are focusing on the forest in northeast Nigeria
One of the alleged
attackers has been captured, and a military search-and-rescue operation
was ongoing to "ensure the safety of the remaining students," Maj. Gen.
Chris Olukolade said on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear how the girls became free. Their conditions were also not clear.
Boko Haram, which
translates as "western education is sin," is an Islamist militant group
waging a campaign of violence in northeastern Nigeria, particularly in
the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
The group is known to
have carried out deadly attacks on other schools in the northeast. In a
clip released by the group March 23, leader Abubakar Shekau threatened
to launch raids and abduct girls from schools.
Earlier, vigilantes and
volunteers aided in the search near the northeastern town of Chibok,
where heavily armed men descended on the Government Secondary School on
Monday night as the girls slept in their dormitories.
After a long gun battle
with soldiers guarding the school, the militants herded the girls onto
buses, vans and trucks and drove off, flanked by motorcycles.
"They took away my
daughter and my niece... and we fear for their safety in the hands of
these merciless people that take delight in killing and destruction,"
said the mother of one of the abducted girls. "I don't know what to do.
The whole family is confused and we have turned to prayers, which is all
we have."
In early March, Borno
state's government closed all of its 85 secondary schools and sent more
than 120,000 students home following increasing Boko Haram attacks.
Up to 200 girls kidnapped by terrorists
The Nigerian government
is struggling to control the bloodshed between the mainly Muslim north
and Christian south that has claimed more than 3,000 lives since Boko
Haram came to prominence in 2009, according to Human Rights Watch.
Rescue teams are fanning out in the forest
Rescue teams, aided by
surveillance helicopters, were moving deeper into the vast forest that
extends into neighboring Cameroon and other states in the region, said
Ali Ndume, a senator representing southern Borno state, in which Chibok
is located.
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"Soldiers and the
Civilian Joint Task Force, as well as volunteers from the area, are now
combing the forest to rescue the school girls. They are aided by
surveillance helicopters to locate the kidnappers' position," Ndume
said.
The teams ventured into
the woods after a broken down truck believed to have been part of the
kidnapping convoy was found abandoned at the edge of the forest, which
suggests that the abductors took their hostages into the woods on foot,
he added.
A military official involved in the rescue operation also confirmed a broken down truck was found in the brush.
"We are now trying to
locate the whereabouts of the abducted girls," said the military source,
who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the
issue.
Before the military's
announcement that most of the students had been freed, Borno Gov. Kashim
Shettima told reporters about 14 girls had escaped. He pledged 50
million naira, around $300,000, to any person or persons who could
provide information that will lead to the rescue of the girls.
'Pain, sorrow and anguish' for families
Distraught parents of
the abducted girls anxiously waited for news, many of them crowded
outside the burned home of the Chibok district administrator.
The gunmen burned homes and businesses in the town as they fled with the girls, witnesses said.
"We are calling on the
government to do everything possible to track these people and save your
daughters from them. They should not allow our daughters' dreams to be
shattered by these murderers," said the mother of one abducted girl.
A statement from the
office of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who ordered security
forces "to deploy maximum efforts" in rescuing the girls and welcomed
reports of some rescues.
"President Jonathan
deeply regrets the pain, sorrow and anguish brought upon many Nigerian
families in recent days as a consequence of recurring security
challenges which the nation is contending with," the statement said.
U.N. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon called for the girls' "immediate release," according to a
statement from Ban's spokesperson. He is "deeply alarmed about the
increasing frequency and brutality of attacks" against schools in
northern Nigeria.
"The targeting of
schools and school children is a grave violation of international
humanitarian law. Schools are, and must remain, safe places where
children can learn and grow in peace," the statement said.
A student who was among the girls who escaped recounted her ordeal.
"They forced us into
trucks, buses and vans, some of which were carrying food stuffs and
petrol. They left with us in a convoy into the bush," said the student,
who declined to be named for security reasons. "A group of motorcyclists
flanked the convoy to ensure none of us escaped."
At one point, one of the
trucks broke down and the girls on that vehicle were transferred to
another one, the student said. The broken down truck was set on fire,
she added.
When another vehicle
broke down and the men tried to fix it, "some of us jumped out of the
vehicles and ran into the bush. We later found our way back to Chibok,"
she said.
CNN's Vladimir Duthiers contributed to this report.
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