Journalism of Courage
Advertisement
Premium

Nigeria: Second girl rescued; not listed as taken from Chibok

Army spokesman Col Sani Kukasheka Usman said soldiers freed the girl after a Thursday night battle in the northeastern Sambisa Forest in which it liberated 97 women and children and killed 35 extremists.

Boko Haram, Nigeria, Nigeria Boko Haram, Boko Haram insurgency, Boko Haram victims, Nigeria victims, Nigeria businessman, Nigera missing children, world news, Nigeria news, Africa news, latest newsFILE-In this file photo taken from video released by Nigeria's Boko Haram terrorist network, Monday May 12, 2014, shows missing girls abducted from the northeastern town of Chibok. A teenage who surrendered before carrying out a suicide bombing attack in northern Cameroon has told authorities she was one of the 276 girls abducted from a Nigerian boarding school by Islamic extremists nearly two years ago, authorities said Saturday, March 26, 2016. (AP Photo)

Nigeria’s military reported rescuing a second “Chibok girl” in a forest battle with Islamic extremists, but a community leader said today she is not on the list of 218 students missing from the 2014 mass abduction from the school by Boko Haram that sparked worldwide outrage.

Army spokesman Col Sani Kukasheka Usman said soldiers freed the girl after a Thursday night battle in the northeastern Sambisa Forest in which it liberated 97 women and children and killed 35 extremists.

He said she is 157 on the list of 218 missing girls seized more than two years ago from a boarding school in Chibok. But number 157 has a different name, Chibok community leader Pogu Bitrus told The Associated Press. The list has two other young women sharing the surname given by the military and the rescued girl may have been visiting older sisters at the school the night of the kidnapping, said Bitrus.

[related-post]

The first Chibok teenager to be freed with a 4-month-old baby and was discovered by hunters wandering on the fringes of the Sambisa Forest on Tuesday. Yesterday, Amina Ali Nkeki, 19, was flown to Abuja to meet with Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari. Parents of the kidnapped girls, the Bring Back Our Girls movement and aid workers all have criticised the Nigerian government and military for their handling of the development, with Refugees International charging her escape is being politicised and that she should not be paraded in public but getting urgent medical care for sexual abuse and psychosocial counseling.

Ali has revealed that a few of the girls died in captivity but most remain under heavy guard in the forest, according to family doctor Idriss Danladi. The AP does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault but named Ali after she appeared on TV alongside the president.

From the homepage

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
Edition
Install the Express App for
a better experience
Featured
Trending Topics
News
Multimedia
Follow Us
Express OpinionPrashant Kishor’s holier-than-thou politics has a challenge — and an opportunity
X