PHOTO: A demonstration by parents of kidnapped school girls in Abuja, Nigeria: This story needs attn 8 ap
Islamists abduct more than 100 girlsPosted by Zubair Khan
Source: TOI
MAIDUGURI (Nigeria): Boko Haram Islamists have kidnapped more than 100 girls from a secondary school in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, a senior security source told AFP.
Asked to confirm media reports that 200 girls had been taken from a school in the Chibok local government area during an Islamist attack, the source, who requested anonymity, said “the number is not up to 200, but it is over 100.”
“Many girls were abducted by the rampaging gunmen who stormed the school in a convoy of vehicles,” said Emmanuel Sam, an education official in the town of Chibok, where the attack took place on Monday.
Read more: themuslimtimes.org
Kidnapped Nigerian Girls Still Missing
APRIL 29, 2014 BY BARBARA GREEN
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On the night of April 16th over two hundred schoolgirls in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok were taken from their beds by armed gunmen. The girls, the majority of who were in their last two years of school and are between the ages of 16 and 18, were staying at a hostel on their school’s campus in order to complete their final exams. Schools in the region had been closes for around three weeks before this attack due to threats, but the girls were called back in order to complete their exams. Many of the schoolgirls also had to stay at the school over night as they lived in villages distant from Chibok and were sleeping when the militant group Boko Haram attacked both the school and surrounding area with bombs and gunfire. During the attack two of the guards assigned to the school were killed and around 230 of the girls were kidnapped and taken to an unknown location in the Sambisa forest.
Although the attack occurred over a week ago, the exact number of girls who have escaped remains unknown. The Nigerian military initially released a statement claiming that all but eight of the girls had been rescued, however the families of the missing girls as well as the school’s principle refuted this statement causing it to be retracted a day later. As of last Friday it appears that only 43 of the missing girls have been able to escape captivity, with many managing to slip away from their captors during the first night as they were hauled away in over-crowded trucks. Around ten girls were able to jump off a truck that broke down; others were able to race off into the forest and waited until daybreak to make it back home. However, the vast majority remains missing. The families of these girls, officials, and members of nearby communities have been searching through the forest, but Boko Haram camps are heavily armed and difficult to root out.
The group Boko Haram is a militant Islamist organization from the northern region of Nigeria. Almost twenty years ago there was a civil war between the northern part of Nigeria, which is largely Muslim and impoverished with southern Nigeria, whose population is primarily Christian and wealthier due to the oil industry. In addition, the education system in the north has broken down, as most schools in Nigeria require tuition and many families in the region cannot afford to send their children. As a result many young men are educated in religious schools called almajiri that do not require tuition, but many of these students can be coerced or persuaded to join militant groups such as Boko Haram. The name Boko Haram means “Western Education is Forbidden” in the local language of Hausu, and strongly opposes any type of non-religious education for boys and any education for girls. It was founded by a cleric named Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed in 2009, over a decade ago and its ultimate goal is to enforce a strict form of Sharia law in Nigeria.
Boko Haram is responsible for at least 1,500 deaths in Nigeria this year alone, and has made several bombing attacks on schools, not distinguishing between Christian or Muslim pupils, in the past. It also regularly kidnaps young women, who are used as forced labor in their camps and are frequently sexually assaulted. Many of the women are also forcibly married to members of Boko Haram, who often leave their previous families when moving to a new encampment. Hopes for the rescue of the girls continue, but as time passes it becomes increasingly difficult. |
