Four of the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped more than six months by the militant Islamist sect Boko Haram have escaped, raising hopes for the young ones still held captive, according to a report published by New York Post online.
The four girls, all aged between 16 and 18, had been told that if they criticized Boko Haram, their families would be killed. They were helped to escape by a teenage boy, also a prisoner, who managed to get them out of the camp
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according to Stephen Davis, a British-Australian negotiator who had tried to bargain with the extremist Islamic group for the schoolgirls’ freedom.
The girls, guided by the setting sun, walked west for three weeks before they finally arrived in a Nigerian village, starved and traumatized.
“They were amazing — to first escape and then walk for weeks,” Davis told The Times of London. “They are the only ones that have escaped from a Boko Haram camp.”
However, Dr. Manasseh Allen, Director of Publicity Kibaku Area Development Association of the Chibok Community in Abuja, said last night, after making calls, that he could not confirm the escape of the girls.
It would be recalled that on April 14, over 234 girls were kidnapped from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, by Boko Haram sect members. Six months have passed since the girls were snatched from their boarding-school dormitory in Borno State.
Their abduction sparked global outrage and a huge campaign calling for their rescue, partly propelled by the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
Davis said several attempts to negotiate their release have fallen through.(AIT)
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