Kidnapping in Chibok
On the night of 14–15 April 2014, a group of militants attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria.
They broke into the school, shooting the guards and killing one soldier. The children were aged 16 to 18 and were in their final year of school. A number of the students escaped the kidnappers in two groups. According to the police approximately 276 children were taken in the attack of which 53 had escaped as of 2 May. Read more |
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"I will sell the girls"On 5 May 2014, a video in which Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for the kidnappings emerged. Shekau claimed:
"I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah.There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women,” |
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Second kidnapping in Gamboru
On 5 May, at least 300 residents of the nearby town of Gamboru were killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants after Nigerian security forces had left the town to search for the kidnapped students.
Boko Haram again abducted eight girls aged between 12–15. Gamboru is primarily a Crhistian village and Shekau acknowledged that many of the girls seized were not Muslims: “The girls that have not accepted Islam, they are now gathered in numbers...and we treat them well the way the Prophet Muhammad treated the infidels he seized." |
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TradingOn 12 May, Boko Haram released a video showing about 130 kidnapped girls. Abubaker Shekau, the leader of the Islamic terror group Boko Haram, chuckled and confirmed his prisoners — the vast majority of them Christians — had been forced to convert to Islam.
“These girls, these girls you occupy yourselves with… we have indeed liberated them. These girls have become Muslims.” The girls were forced to cover their bodies in Muslim garb (black and grey full-length hijabs) and were reciting the Koran.
Shekau stated they would remain as his hostages unless jailed terrorists were freed. Read more |
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References:
- Aronson, Samuel (28 April 2014). "AQIM and Boko Haram Threats to Western Interests in the Africa’s Sahel". Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel (CTC), West Point.
- "Boko Haram kills 59 children at Nigerian boarding school". The Guardian. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2014.[dead link]
- Perkins, Anne (23 April 2014). "200 girls are missing in Nigeria – so why doesn't anybody care?". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
- Abubakar, Aminu; Levs, Josh (5 May 2014). "'I will sell them,' Boko Haram leader says of kidnapped Nigerian girls". CNN. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- "88 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Islamic extremists still missing". The Guardian. Associated Press. 19 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
- Maclean, Ruth (17 April 2014) Nigerian schoolgirls still missing after military ‘fabricated’ rescue The Times, (may need a subscription to view online), Retrieved 10 May 2014
- "230 schoolgirls still missing after Boko Haram raid". Times Live. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
- ^ "Authorities – 276 Kidnapped Girls Still Missing in Nigeria". VOA(Nigeria: All Africa). 2 May 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.