Four girls escape Boko Haram, 219 still missing - official
Reuters
May 29, 2014, 4:12 am
The Abuja wing of the "Bring Back Our Girls" protest group prepare to march to the presidential villa to deliver a protest letter to Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, calling for the release of the Nigerian schoolgirls in Chibok who were kidnapped by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, May 22, 2014. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
MAIDUGURI (Reuters) - Four more girls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants last month have escaped their captors, the education commissioner for Nigeria's Borno state said on Wednesday, leaving 219 still missing.
The girls were taking exams at a secondary school in the remote northeastern village of Chibok on April 14 when the Islamist gunmen surrounded it, loaded 276 of them onto trucks and carted them off, according to official figures.
Fifty-three escaped shortly afterwards, say authorities in Borno state, which lies at the epicentre of the insurgency.
Education commissioner Musa Inuwa declined to give further details of the escape of the four.
The girls' abduction shone an international spotlight on the militants, whose violent struggle for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria has killed thousands and turned them into the biggest threat to security in Africa's top oil-producing state.
From being a religious movement opposed to Western culture - Boko Haram means "Western education is a sin" in the northern Hausa language - the sect has emerged as a well-armed insurrection with a growing thirst for blood.
Chief of Defence Staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh said on Tuesday the military knew where the abducted girls were but ruled out a rescue by force for fear of endangering them.
Most officials think any raid to rescue them would run a high risk that the girls would be killed by their captors - Boko Haram has repeatedly showned ruthlessness in targeting civilians.
(Reporting by Lanre Ola; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Andrew Roche)
