- Title: Abducted Chibok schoolgirl found with baby by Nigerian army
- Date: 5th November 2016
- Summary: MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA (NOVEMBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) THEATRE COMMANDER, OPERATION LAFIYA DOLE, GENERAL LUCKY IRABOR, SAYING: "This morning, as part of the operations we've been conducting, we rescued one of the Chibok school girls by name Mariam Maiyanga. Our troops in Pulka rescued her along with a Boko Haram member, of course the baby that you can see with her is a ten months old baby and of course we had to send aircraft to go to bring her. And we felt that is essential that we hand her along with her baby over to the Borno state government. I believe that his excellency honourable Kashim Shettima, when he is through with the official assignment that he went to, went for he will be receiving her. We then think it's the development that we should be do to ourselves, we know that it has been the desire of the state government especially his excellency to have all the girls rescued."
- Embargoed: 20th November 2016 17:44
- Keywords: Nigeria schoolgirl Chibok Boko Haram
- Location: MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA
- City: MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Insurgencies
- Reuters ID: LVA0035762YBR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: One of more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by jihadist group Boko Haram from their school in northeast Nigeria's Chibok in 2014 has been found by soldiers, a Nigerian army spokesman said on Saturday (November 5), weeks after the militants released 21 of the girls.
Around 270 girls were kidnapped in April 2014 by the Islamist militant group, which has killed 15,000 people and displaced more than two million during a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic caliphate in north-east Nigeria.
Dozens escaped in the initial melee, but more than 200 remained missing for more than two years.
"This morning, as part of the operations we've been conducting, we rescued one of the Chibok school girls by name Mariam Maiyanga. Our troops in Pulka rescued her along with a Boko Haram member, of course the baby that you can see with her is a ten months old baby and of course we had to send aircraft to go to bring her," said General Lucky Irabor.
An army spokesman said the girl was discovered by troops who were screening escapees from Boko Haram's base in the Sambisa forest on Saturday morning in Pulka, Gwoza Local Government Area, in Borno State.
Bring Back Our Girls, a group of campaigners with close ties to relatives of those abducted, said "preliminary investigations" showed the girl was number 198 on its register of the kidnapped girls.
In a statement, the campaign group said she was from Askira Uba, a district of Borno state, and was abducted along with her twin who is yet to return.
Last month, 21 of the girls were released by Boko Haram following talks with the government brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government. The government has vowed to rescue the girls still being held. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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