Boko Haram Reportedly Abducts More Nigerian Girls

Just as the U.S. prepares to send a team to Nigeria to help rescue school girls kidnapped last month, the New York Times reports that Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has kidnapped more girls.

American military officials and hostage negotiators will attempt to recover the missing 200+ girls Boko Haram leader said he would sell to other Muslims as wives. The Nigerian government and the country’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, have come under fire for failing to take action against Boko Haram or the recovery of the girls. Now matters have gotten worse for families and the country. An excerpt:

Men suspected of being fighters from the radical group Boko Haram kidnapped 11 more girls in Nigeria’s northeast, local officials said Tuesday, an intensification of its campaign against female education and the Nigerian government since the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls three weeks ago.
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The authorities here — and particularly the military, itself implicated in numerous massacres of civilians — appear to be floundering in their response to a crisis that social media have transformed into a cause célèbre. The new kidnappings underlined the inability of the Nigerian government to protect civilians from the growing insurgency. Not a single girl has been rescued so far.
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In a sign of deepening global concern, on Tuesday the United States offered to provide a team of experts, including military and law enforcement officers, along with hostage negotiators and psychologists, to assist the Nigerians in recovering the girls, an offer that the government here accepted. American officials said “military resources” would not be included, but President Obama weighed in, vowing to “do everything we can.”

Photo credit: Michael Fleshan (Flickr Commons)