Boko Haram Girl Kidnapping: Militant Group Seizes Town Where Schoolgirls Were Kidnapped in April
The extremist Islamic group Boko Haram seized the Nigerian town of Chibok, where the more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped from earlier this year, The Associated Press reported.
The militants have left a trail of blood as they continue to seize town after town in Nigeria.
The U.S. is monitoring the situation, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Friday.
"We condemn these attacks in Chibok, a community that has already suffered too much. We remain committed to helping the government of Nigeria address the threat posed by extremist organizations," Psaki told AP.
Prior to seizing the Borno state town, the militants wreaked havoc in Hong and Bombi in neighboring Adamawa state.
And the government is still trying to find the 219 girls who were kidnapped in April, despite an alleged truce announced by the government with Boko Haram that should have resulted in the return of the girls in mid-October.
"It is unclear whether the militia, which is increasingly adopting the military tactics and excessive cruelty of the radical Islamic ISIS, merely sold our government a dummy in order to buy time for escalation or whether agreement was reached with a non-representative faction of the sect," an editorial in the Nigerian Tribune said.
According to the article, at least 3 trillion Nigerian Naira has been spent on the military in the past two years, with another $1 billion in loans anticipated.
"Our military campaign has been far weaker than one would expect," the Nigerian Tribune editorial said. "It is time for the nation to reverse the spate of defeats on the field of battle."
Originally the count was nearly 300 kidnapped schoolgirls, but a number of them were able to escape within the first few days.
The global social media campaign, #BringOurGirlsBack, shed light on the situation in Nigeria, but the government has failed to rescue the girls.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said the girls had been converted to Islam and married off, according to a video message sent earlier this month, AP reported.
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