Local Borno hunters succeed in rescuing 30 of the Chibok schoolgirls from Boko Haram

HUNTERS in Borno State have rescued 30 of the Government Girls Secondary School Chibok pupils abducted by Boko Haram about three months ago after coming across one of the camps where they were being held. On April 14, Boko Haram abducted about 234 schoolgirls from their boarding school as they slept at night and whisked them off to an unknown location. Since then, there has been an international outcry for their release and local people have joined the Nigerian military to search for the girls. Several countries including the US, UK and Israel have all sent military experts to Nigeria to help in the search but so far, all attempts to find the girls have proved elusive. Despite the Nigerian military authorities saying they know where the girls are, no rescue mission has been mounted to release the pupils. Yesterday, however, military sources confirmed that about 30 of the girls are with the Nigerian Army after local hunters helped them escape from their captors. Two other Boko Haram captives said to be a boy and a 10-year-old girl also escaped with the Chibok girls and were handed over to the military too. “All 32 escapees and the hunters who helped them to escape are currently with soldiers,” the military source added. Up until now, Boko Haram has insisted that it will only release the girls in exchange for its fighters currently being held in detention. Earlier this week, one of the sect's leaders said that the Chibok girls are safe and healthy and that some of them had converted to Islam, although those who had not had not been forced to. He added: "Today, if the government releases our members, tomorrow or the next day, we promise you can see all of them. As our leader Abubakar Shekau promised to the media, if the government releases our members, we will release them.” According to the Boko Haram member, the girls were taken for a specific reason and he reiterated the condition for their release. He added that the girls would be released once the federal government met the terrorist group’s demands for a prisoner exchange deal.