Could this be true?
Nigerian terrorists Boko Haram have reportedly demanded nearly
£40m to return the 219 missing Chibok girls on the eve of the two-year
anniversary of their kidnapping. The Islamic State (Isis) linked
extremists took 276 female students hostage from a boarding school in
Chibok, northern Nigeria, on 14 April 2014.
The brutal
fundamentalist Islamic group has terrorised Nigeria for 14 years and has
a reputation for high-profile kidnappings, bombings, massacres and
drug-running. Despite their reputations some of the captives were able
to escape leaving 219 still held in an unknown location.
A social media campaign, #bringbackourgirls,
was set up to put pressure on the Nigerian military to act. The
Nigerian armed forces have been criticised for not attacking a camp
nearby in the weeks after the kidnap – but they argued this could have
resulted in some of the girls being killed.
Boko Haram
leader Abubakr Shekau had initially said he wanted to make a deal to
release the girls in exchange for several jailed jihadists. But the
Nigerian state said they did not have the offenders in custody.
An anonymous source told the Sunday Telegraph
that senior jihadists secretly approached the Nigerian government in a
new bid to negotiate the release of the Chibok girls. The newspaper said
that the group, founded in 2002, want 10bn naira (£36m) to secure their
release.
Campaigners believe that the girls may have been
divided into small groups and taken to Islamic militant-held areas such
as the Sambisia forest, which covers an area three times the size of
Wales. Shehu Sani, a Nigerian senator and civil rights
activist involved in the peace talks said: "I think they are probably in
clusters rather than all in one place, but probably not far from each
other. Boko Haram knows they are a prized catch."
Last
month Western governments were accused of knowing where the girls were
held, but did not act as they felt powerless to rescue them. According
to Dr Andrew Pocock, former British high commissioner to Nigeria, some
of the girls were located by British and American surveillance, yet
nothing was done. The information was passed on to the Nigerians but
they did not request for help.
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