Nigerian military lied, say families

[CNN]

 Kano, Nigeria (CNN) -- Families of girls kidnapped from school by suspected Boko Haram militants are accusing the Nigerian military of lying. Despite the military's claims that nearly all the girls are now free, nearly all of them are still being held, the families said Thursday.

"We have been in grief for the past four days over the kidnap of our daughters and hoping the military would rescue them but to our greatest shock and disbelief the same military has resorted to blatant propaganda, claiming all but eight of our girls have been freed," said Lawan Zanna, father of one of the students. "This is a blatant lie."

Only 14 of the 129 students are free, he said.

Three girls escaped their captors Wednesday and were returned home by herdsmen, Zanna said. Some other girls escaped from a truck moments after the kidnapping, he said.

    Abubakar Shekau is the leader of Boko Haram in Nigeria. A reward up to $7 million has been offered by the U.S. government.       Mullah Mohammed Omar is the spiritual leader of the Taliban. A reward of up to $10 million has been offered by the U.S. government.       Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the leader of Islamic State in Iraq. A reward up to $10 million has been offered by the U.S. government.       Ahmed Abdi Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubayr, is the leader of Al-Shabaab. A reward up to $7 million has been offered by the U.S. government.       Nasir al Wuhayshi is leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.       Hakimullah Mehsud is the leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban in Pakistan. A reward of up to $5 million has been offered by the U.S. government.       Leaders of deadliest terrorist groups Leaders of deadliest terrorist groups Leaders of deadliest terrorist groups Leaders of deadliest terrorist groups Leaders of deadliest terrorist groups Leaders of deadliest terrorist groups HIDE CAPTION   << <      1      2      3      4      5      6   > >>     Leaders of deadliest terrorist groups       Boko Haram 'increasingly monstrous'     Up to 200 girls kidnapped by terrorists     Explosion kills dozens in Nigeria  "For the military who is supposed to find and rescue our children to be spreading such lies shows that they have no intention of rescuing our girls."

The military, in a statement, said the school principal had confirmed that only eight of the students were still missing. The military credited "ongoing search and rescue operations."

But the principal himself said that's untrue. "I never made that claim to anybody," said Asabe Kwambura, principal of Government Girls Secondary School in the town of Chibok.

"A total of 14 out of the 129 students taken away managed to escape and the rest are still being held by their captors," he said.

The military also claimed that one of the terrorists who carried out the attack on the school has been captured.

Escaped kidnapping victim: We 'ran into the bush'

The Boko Haram militants herded the students onto buses, vans and trucks Monday night after a gun battle with soldiers guarding the boarding school and drove off, flanked by motorcycles, authorities said.

"They forced us into trucks, buses and vans, some of which were carrying foodstuffs and petrol. They left with us in a convoy into the bush," said one of girls, who escaped and 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, referring to the northeastern town where her school is located.

Boko Haram, which translates as "Western education is sin," is an Islamist militant group waging a campaign of violence in northeastern Nigeria, particularly in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

The group is known to have carried out deadly attacks on other schools in the northeast.

In early March, Borno closed all its 85 secondary schools and sent more than 120,000 students home after increasing attacks by the group. Chibok is in Borno state.

Rescue teams, aided by surveillance helicopters, were moving deeper into the vast forest that extends into neighboring Cameroon and other states in the region, Ali Ndume, a senator representing southern Borno state, said Wednesday.

A broken down truck believed to have been part of the kidnapping convoy was found abandoned at the edge of the forest, which suggests the abductors took their hostages into the woods on foot, he added.

READ: Who are Boko Haram?

CNN's Vladimir Duthiers contributed to this report.
Source: CNN.com

[CNN]