Suspected members of the Boko Haram on Monday night abducted nearly 200 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok during a night raid.
Police commissioner Lawan Tanko who confirmed that there was an incident in Chibok said they are compiling details.
But other security sources and distraught parents confirmed the mass abduction which they said is the first of its kind since the commencement of the Boko Haram insurgency in 2009.
The girls, aged between 16 and 18 were reportedly writing their final year senior secondary school examinations.
A top security source who does not want to be named said authorities at GGSS Chibok directed the girls to go and write their exams without adequate authorization and clearance from security agencies.
“Serious collaboration between various security agencies is yielding results. The truck that was conveying the girls broke down in the bush before it reached its destination. We are now trying to locate where the girls were taken to,” he said.
A parent of one of the abductees said some of the girls jumped out of the moving truck without the knowledge of the abductors.
“Other girls hung unto branches of trees as the truck passed through the bush and they found their way back to Chibok and other villages.
“The terrorists first destroyed houses and shops in Chibok before they stormed the secondary school where they killed a soldier and a policeman,” Hannatu Michael, whose daughter was also abducted, said.
The Borno State government had recently closed all secondary schools in the state after security report indicated that Boko Haram fighters are perfecting plans to attack them.
However, final year students were directed to report in some schools in Maiduguri and Biu to write their exams.
Source: Daily Trust
