Nigerian Army Rescues 80 Schoolgirls Abducted by Boko Haram

Can it be true?

One has to be reluctant to believe anything that comes out of Nigeria, especially if it's good news. Let's hope and pray it is true and pray for those not yet accounted for.

By Daniel Uria

Boko Haram militants are loaded onto an aircraft by the Nigerian military to be taken to a rehabilitation center in Gombe where they reportedly are to begin a de-radicalisation process, in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on July 8,. The terror group may have abducted more than 100 school girls after a raid Monday. File Photo by Usuf Osman/EPA

UPI -- The Nigerian army rescued about 80 girls abducted by Boko Haram militants in a raid at a school on Wednesday.

The girls were rescued at a border town between Borno and Yobe and were taken to the Geidam Army Base to undergo medical checks, CNN reported.

Mohammed Alamin, the commissioner of education for Yobe state, said the school will be visited to check names off a list in order to confirm the exact number of girls rescued.

Alamin couldn't confirm if any bodies were recovered at the scene and the Yobe state government said more details about the number of girls rescued and their condition will be provided in "due course."

Up to 111 girls were initially unaccounted for after Boko Haram stormed the Government Girls Science Secondary School (2nd story on link) in Dapchi on Monday evening, Yobe state police commissioner Abdulmaliki Sumonu said.

"Eight hundred and fifteen students returned to the school and were visibly seen, out of 926 in the school. The rest are missing," said Sumonu.

Sumonu said he could not confirm if the missing students had been kidnapped, adding not all of the girls live at the boarding school and some may not have been present during the raid.

"It's a very sensitive situation," he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari said he ordered the military and police to "mobilize immediately" to find the girls and dispatched his defense minister on a fact-finding trip.

"I share the anguish of all the parents and guardians of the girls that remain unaccounted for. I would like to assure them that we are doing all in our power to ensure the safe return of all the girls," Buhari said.

In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 270 girls from a school in the town of Chibok and about 20,000 people have been killed since the terrorist group began its insurgency in 2009.

One of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls was rescued in January, 82 were released in exchange for five top Boko Haram commanders in May 2017 and 21 were freed in October 2016 after negotiations with Boko Haram.