15 Girls Escape Boko Haram Kidnappings, As 200 School Girls Abducted and Missing

In the latest developments of the unfolding story of the mass kidnapping, SaharaReporters has learned that 15 girls escaped from Boko Haram militants, as they had jumped-off one of the trucks carting them and dozens of other female students away. The Islamic militants were reportedly distracted, as one of the trucks used in the mass kidnapping had broken down.

 

“They tried to fix it,” said one of the girls who managed to get away. She was quoted by one media outlet some hours after her escape. Speaking to a reporter by telephone, the teenaged student spoke on the condition she remain anonymous.

“It was at this moment that some of us jumped out of the vehicles and ran to the bush,” the girl said in describing her bold and daring escape.

Yet, the Boko Haram Islamic militants in Nigeria’s northeastern region abducted at least 200 female students overnight on Monday evening.

Concern continues to rise about the safety and whereabouts of the students who did not escape.

The mass kidnapping took place under the cover of darkness on Monday. The more than 200 abducted students attended the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, a town west of Maiduguri, roughly 81 miles (130 Kilometers) away.

The targeted students were rounded up at their boarding quarters, as the heavily armed militants arrived in trucks, cars and buses, eyewitnesses and government officials said.

This action follows the bombing attacks in Abuja on Monday that left more than 71 people dead, and over 200 wounded. While no group has claimed responsibility, government officials have not ruled-out the Islamist group’s hand in the attack.

Boko Haram’s mass abduction of the female students in Borno State has been called “unprecedented.” The Islamist group stormed the school campus and overpowered security details at the school, eyewitnesses told SaharaReporters.

Several school buildings were set on fire before Boko Haram militants opened fire on the security forces there.

At press time, Nigerian military officials are conducting a search for the dozens of kidnapped students. One of their methods includes following the tire tracks left behind of their escape route.

As the ever-changing story unfolds, there are strange twists with a confusing array of statements, and counter, even contradictory information, flowing out of the site of the kidnapping. In Maiduguri, Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno state, said that only 14 girls had been rescued. He also said that only 50 parents had showed up at schools complaining that they did not know the whereabouts of their daughters.

In early March the Borno state government had closed all 85 of its secondary schools, sending home over 100 thousand students home, following increased attacks on their schools by the Boko Haram.

There is a 50 million Naira reward to anyone who steps forward with information leading to the capture of the Boko Haram members involved with this kidnapping.