Boko Haram abduct eight more girls in Nigeria, US expert team to assist search

Zee Media Bureau/ Neha Attre

Washington: Nearly a month after over 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria were kidnapped by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, the US is sending a team of experts to assist in the search of missing girls. The US team includes officials from military, law enforcement and other agencies. US President Barack Obama termed the abductions as “heartbreaking” and “outrageous” and called Boko Haram as "one of the worst regional... terrorist organisations," the BBC reported. He further said that the incident may be instrumental in channelising the international community against Boko Haram. Even as the international community expressed their outrage over the kidnapping of schoolgirls, the gunman stormed Warabe village in Borneo state in trucks and kidnapped eight more girls aged between 12-15 years. The role of the Nigerian government has come under severe criticism for the slow response after the schoolgirls were kidnapped. However, the government denied the allegations and said that troops have already been deployed to search the missing girls. The militant group had earlier released a video in which the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, said that he plans to “marry” and “sell off” the girls as young as nine years old. According to unconfirmed reports, most of the abducted schoolgirls have already been sent across borders and sold. However, officials in Chad and Cameroon have said that the kidnapped girls have come into their countries. The world was outraged after news of Boko Haram militants storming the school on April 14 and abducting the schoolgirls as they prepared for their final papers.