First Chibok Girl Rescued From Boko Haram

Girl believed taken in Boko Haram's

Chibok raid found

She is believed to be among those captured by Boko Haram in a raid on a school, which provoked a global condemnation

By Ed Adamczyk 



The abduction by Boko Haram insurgents of female students from a Chibok, Nigeria, school in 2014 prompted global condemnation. One student was discovered, alive, by an anti-Boko Haram vigilante group. Photo by Medina Dauda/Voice of America

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, May 18 (UPI) -- One of 276 girls abducted in 2014 by the Boko Haram insurgent group in Nigeria was found and identified, activists said Wednesday.

The activists identified her as Amina Ali Nkek. She was among students, largely Christian, kidnapped by the Islamist group from their secondary school in Chibok. She was found in Nigeria's Sambisa forest, near the Cameroon border, where a member of a vigilante group fighting Boko Haram, the Civilian Joint Task Force, recognized her, the BBC reported. It added the rescue was confirmed by Nigerian women's activist Hauwa Abdu. A neighbor of the abducted girl, from her hometown of Mbalala, told the BBC she was found with a baby.

Gunmen attacked the Chibok school campus on April 14, 2014, carrying the female students off in trucks. Some escaped by jumping off the trucks and were located within hours of the attack, but 219 remained missing. The incident created a global outcry and a "Bring Back Our Girls" social media campaign, but except for occasional Boko Haram videos depicting the captives, none had been located.

The discovery of Amina would make her the first abducted student found.

Boko Haram has, since 2009, waged military operations, largely in northeastern Nigeria, to establish an Islamic caliphate. An ally of the Islamic State, it has largely been beaten back by Nigerian and international forces, who retook most of Boko Haram's captured territory.