111 Girls Still Missing After Boko Haram Attack on School in Nigeria

By Al Jazeera

22 February 18

Schoolgirls reportedly rescued but dozens missing following Boko Haram attack on a boarding school in Yobe state.

ome missing schoolgirls have been found following a suspected Boko Haram attack on a school in northeast Nigeria, a local official and senior military source said on Thursday.

Police said on Wednesday that 111 girls from the state-run boarding school in Dapchi, in Yobe state, were unaccounted for following an attack by the armed group on Monday night.

But exact figures have been difficult to confirm. On Thursday, parents said 101 children were still missing, contradicting earlier reports that some girls had been rescued by the military.

Abdullahi Bego, spokesman for Yobe Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, said late on Wednesday "some of the girls ... have been rescued by gallant officers and men of the Nigerian Army from the terrorists who abducted them".

He added: "The rescued girls are now in the custody of the Nigerian army." Bego did not give a specific number of those saved.

Initially, the students were reported to have fled the attack with their teachers at the sound of gunfire.

A senior military source in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, told AFP news agency the schoolgirls "were found abducted on the border between Yobe and Borno".

"The girls were abandoned with their vehicle. It had broken down and the terrorists panicked because they were under siege by pursuing soldiers.

"The fear is that some of the other girls may have been taken along by the terrorists because the girls were not in a single vehicle. Only those in the broken down vehicle were lucky," the unnamed official said.

Reporting from Maiduguri, Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris said there were "conflicting numbers" on how many girls were taken and that it's difficult to ascertain what exactly happened.

"Reports say that 76 students may have been rescued by the Nigerian army and at least two bodies have been recovered," he said.

More than 20,000 people have been killed and two million others forced to flee their homes in northeastern Nigeria since Boko Haram launched a campaign in 2009 aimed at forming a breakaway state.

Over the years, the armed group has kidnapped thousands of adults and children.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari recently said the era of Boko Haram violence "is gradually drawing to end".

However, the group continues to launch attacks in the country's northeast, and its leader remains at large.