Islamists say they took Nigerian schoolgirls
Print Edition
THE Islamist militant group Boko Haram yesterday claimed responsibility for the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in northeast Nigeria last month and threatened to “sell them on the market,” French news agency AFP reported, citing a video.
Boko Haram on April 14 stormed an all-girl secondary school in the village of Chibok, in Borno state, then packed the teenagers, who had been taking exams, onto trucks and disappeared into a remote area along the border with Cameroon.
The brazenness and sheer brutality of the attack shocked Nigerians, who have been growing accustomed to hearing about atrocities in an increasingly bloody five-year-old Islamist insurgency in the north.
“I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah,” Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in the video, according to AFP, which is normally the first media outlet to get Shekau’s videos.
Boko Haram, now seen as the main security threat to Africa’s leading energy producer, is growing bolder and extending its reach. The kidnapping occurred on the same day as a bomb blast, also blamed on Boko Haram, that killed 75 people on the edge of Abuja and marked the first attack on the capital in two years.
The militants, who say they are fighting to reinstate a mediaeval Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria, repeated that bomb attack more than two weeks later in almost exactly the same spot, killing 19 people and wounding 34 in the suburb of Nyanya.
The girls’ abductions have been hugely embarrassing for the government and threaten to overshadow its first hosting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) for Africa, which runs from tomorrow until Friday.
The apparent powerlessness of the military to prevent the attack or find the girls in three weeks has triggered protests.
On Sunday, authorities arrested a leader of a protest staged last week in Abuja that called on them to do more to find the girls. The arrest fuelled outrage against the security forces.
Naomi Mutah Nyadar was picked up by police after a meeting she and other campaigners had held with President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, Patience, concerning the girls.
In a statement, Patience Jonathan denied local media reports that she had ordered Nyadar’s arrest but urged the protesters in Abuja to go home.
More protests were planned for yesterday afternoon, which could be a headache for the government if they continue and coincide with the WEF event.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
