Nigerian police offered a $300,000 reward on Wednesday for any credible information leading to the rescue of more than 200 schoolgirls who were abducted last month by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
The girls’ abduction from their secondary school in the village of Chibok inNigeria’s Borno state on April 14 has triggered international outrage and protests, piling pressure on President Jonathan Goodluck's government to get the girls back.
On Monday, a 57-minute video surfaced in which Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and threatened to sell the girls “on the market”.
Since then, the United States, Britain and France have offered Nigeria practical and technical assistance to help recover the missing girls.
Meanwhile, Boko Haram is believed to have abducted eight more girls on Monday night from Warabe, another village in the same region. A police source said the girls were taken away on trucks, along with looted livestock and food.
Boko Haram steps up attacks
The kidnappings, and other attacks by Boko Haram, have overshadowed Nigeria’s hosting of the World Economic Forum, which is due to start on Wednesday evening. Nigerian officials had hoped the event would draw attention to the potential of Africa’s biggest economy as an investment destination.
Last month’s kidnapping occurred on the day a bomb blast, also claimed by Boko Haram, killed 75 people on the outskirts of Abuja, the first attack on the capital in two years. Another bomb in roughly the same place killed 19 people last week.
The Islamist organisation is also believed to have attacked Gamburu, a market town on Nigeria’s border with Cameroon, killing at least 125 people, police said on Wednesday.
Gunmen surrounded the town before dawn on Monday, spraying automatic weapon fire as traders gathered there before the heat of the day. Witnesses said they burned down houses and, in some cases, slit people’s throats. A police officer assessing the scene on Wednesday said the death toll had reached at least 125.
Kassim Shettima, governor of Borno state, was due to visit the scene of the deadly attack on Wednesday.
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