Parents seek Nigeria kidnap girls

[BBC]

 An aide to the local state governor, who asked not to be named, also told Reuters that "only 14 of the students have returned".

Parents of the girls have told the BBC that more than 100 girls are still missing. The girls are believed to be being held in the Sambisa forest in north-east Nigeria.

Continue reading the main story      Boko Haram at a glance  

• Founded in 2002
• Official Arabic name, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, means "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad"
• Initially focused on opposing Western education
• Nicknamed Boko Haram, a phrase in the local Hausa language meaning "Western education is forbidden"
• Launched military operations in 2009 to create an Islamic state across Nigeria
• Founding leader  Mohammed Yusuf killed in same year in police custody
• Succeeded by Abubakar Shekau, who the military wrongly claimed in 2013 had been killed

• Nigerian students living in fear
• What is Nigeria's Boko Haram?

A group of parents have raised money to buy fuel and water, and have headed into the forest with a local vigilante group to search for the girls.

It is an extremely dangerous mission, the BBC's Will Ross in Lagos reports. The well-armed Boko Haram fighters have killed hundreds of civilians this year, slitting the throats of many of their victims, he says.

One father told the BBC he was willing to die in the forest in the attempt to free his daughter.

The air force, army, police, local defence units and volunteers have all been involved in the search for the schoolgirls.

Correspondents say the raid on the boarding school is a great source of embarrassment for the Nigerian authorities, who have been saying that their military campaign against the militants is succeeding.

Militants from Boko Haram - which means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language - frequently target educational institutions.


Source: BBC.co.uk