Nigerian Girls Kidnapped: Boko Haram Says Girls Have Been Married Off
The leader of Boko Haram, tells the world in a video Friday, that the more than 200 girls kidnapped from a boarding school over six months ago, have been married off and converted to Islam.
"If you knew the state your daughters are in today, it might lead some of you ... to die from grief," Abubakar Shekau says in the video, addressing the parents of the girls.
The Boko Haram leader also denies there is a cease-fire with the Nigerian government and threatens to kill an unidentified German hostage, According to the AP.
"Don't you know we are still holding your German hostage (who is) always crying," he says. "If we want, we will hack him or slaughter him or shoot him."
A German development worker was kidnapped at gunpoint in a town in Nigeria's northeast Gombi in July.
Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier last week told reporters in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, that he had no new information about the German abductee.
The military has claimed several times to have killed Shekau, yet he appears in this video with the al-Qaeda flag on his waist. The military claims that any new videos are made by a look-alike.
Still, the U.S. holds a $7 million ransom on Shekau's head.
Mid-October, Nigeria's military chief, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, announced that Boko Haram had agreed to an immediate cease-fire. Government officials said they expect the girls to return home.
In the video, Shekau, leader of Nigeria's extremist group, says that they are only dedicated to fighting and dying a martyr's death.
"You people should understand that we only obey Allah, we tread the path of the Prophet. We hope to die on this path ... Our goal is the garden of eternal bliss," he says.
The extremists warned girls to stay out of Western-style schools. Their name, Boko Haram, means "Western education is sinful."
The kidnapping of the girls sparked international debate in the "Bring Back Our Girls" campaign.
Shekau says he has long ago married them off.
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