A video released Monday is said to show some of the Nigerian school girls being held captive by the Islamist militant sect Boko Haram. The footage, which could not be completely verified, also showed the group’s leader Abubakar Shekau. (Photo: AFP)
Nigerian insurgents released a video on Monday that purportedly shows more than 100 of the schoolgirls kidnapped in April and demands the release of imprisoned members of militant Islamist sect Boko Haram in return for the freedom of the students.
The video is the first released showing some of the more than 200 teenage girls who were abducted from their school on April 14. In a previous video, Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, was filmed announcing that he would sell them into slavery. The latest video shows the girls dressed in hijabs, or Muslim robes, reciting Islamic prayers. Mr. Shekau, who appears in the video, said several Christians among the girls have converted to Islam.
“These women that had you all so worried, we have liberated them!” shouted Mr. Shekau. “We converted them to Islam. They are Muslims now.”
An image from a video released Monday shows a hijab-clad girl at an undisclosed rural location talking to the camera. Nigerian militant group Boko Haram said she is one of the schoolgirls it claims to have kidnapped. The Wall Street Journal hasn’t confirmed that she or any of the other girls pictured are among the ones who were abducted. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Only days ago, Mr. Shekau threatened to sell the girls “because they are our slaves.” Now, he is using them as a bargaining chip in a brutal war.
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