Wide Condemnation to Boko Haram’s Kidnap of 220 Girls

Local Editor

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday described the kidnapping of more than 220 schoolgirls by extremists in Nigeria as "heartbreaking" and "outrageous" as Washington deployed military experts in the hunt for the children.

Obama urged global action against Boko Haram and confirmed Nigerian leaders had accepted an offer to deploy US personnel there, soon after residents said the extremist group had seized eight more girls, aged between 12 and 15, again in the embattled northeast.

The first group of girls were taken three weeks ago, and concerns have been mounting about their fate after Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility, saying his group was holding the schoolgirls as "slaves" and threatening to "sell them in the market".

Speaking to US broadcaster ABC, Obama said: "It's a heartbreaking situation, outrageous situation."
"This may be the event that helps to mobilize the entire international community to finally do something against this horrendous organization that's perpetrated such a terrible crime," he added.

The team sent to Nigeria consists of "military, law enforcement, and other agencies", Obama said, and will work to "identify where in fact these girls might be and provide them help".
He denounced Boko Haram as "one of the worst regional or local terrorist organizations".
US officials have voiced fears that the more than 220 girls, aged between 16 and 18, have already been smuggled into neighboring countries, such as Chad and Cameroon. The governments of both denied the girls were in their countries.

Their fate has sparked global outrage and may constitute a crime against humanity according to the UN.
Shekau said his extreme group was holding the schoolgirls abducted on April 14 in the northeastern town of Chibok as "slaves" and threatened to "sell them in the market", in a video obtained by AFP on Monday.

Parents of those taken said Shekau's video had made an already horrifying situation even worse.
The latest kidnappings also took place in Borno state, a stronghold of the terrorist group.
Abdullahi Sani, a resident of Warabe, said gunmen had moved "door to door, looking for girls" late on Sunday.

"They forcefully took away eight girls between the ages of 12 and 15," he said, in an account confirmed by other witnesses.
He said the attackers did not kill anyone, which was "surprising", and suggested that abducting girls was the motive for the attack.
Several managed to escape but over 220 girls are still being held, according to police.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the kidnappings "disgusting" while Angelina Jolie, speaking in Paris, condemned the Chibok abductions as "unthinkable cruelty and evil".
Egypt's prestigious Islamic institute al-Azhar said harming the girls "completely contradicts the teachings of Islam".

Since the attack, parents have criticized the military's rescue mission, saying there had been a lack of urgency from the outset.

But it is Boko Haram's extreme violence that has dominated headlines, with many questioning whether Nigeria has the capacity to contain the insurgents who have killed thousands since 2009, and at least 1,500 this year alone.

A local official in neighboring Niger meanwhile said two Boko Haram fighters were wounded and several others detained Tuesday after clashes between the army and heavily armed extremists near the southeastern town of Diffa which borders on northeast Nigeria.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team