Boko Haram: We'll Sell Kidnapped Girls at Market

AFP obtains video featuring group's leader
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted May 5, 2014 8:40 AM CDT
Boko Haram: We'll Sell Kidnapped Girls at Market
People attend a demonstration calling on the government to rescue kidnapped schoolgirls, in Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday, May 1, 2014.   (AP Photo/ Sunday Alamba)

Islamist militant group Boko Haram has acknowledged in a video obtained by AFP that it's behind the kidnappings of more than 200 girls in Nigeria last month. "I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah," leader Abubakar Shekau says. He adds that "we are holding people (as) slaves." The Nigerian government has been slammed for what critics call a weak response to the April 14 kidnappings; activists say a woman who organized protests over the abductions has been detained, the BBC notes.

President Goodluck Jonathan made his first public comments on the matter yesterday, reports the BBC. "Wherever these girls are, we'll get them out," he said, though he admitted officials do not know where the girls are. He also went on to knock parents for not giving "the police clear identity of the girls that have yet to return," notes CNN. Previous reports indicated the girls may have been taken to neighboring countries. (More Boko Haram stories.)

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