Nigeria: 200 Kidnapped Girls 'Found', Rescue Being Planned.

by Benson Agoha

The Nigerian Military have confirmed they have found the over 200 girls kidnapped by terror group Boko Haram, but said it might be too dangerous to attempt a military rescue.

Speaking to the media on Monday, military spokesman said we have found the girls. We know where they are but it might be too dangerous to send in the army as the girls might die in the process of a military rescue.

The chief of Defence staff said, we are working.  I can't tell you where they are but we have found them and are continuing our discussion to ensure they are brought back alive and well.

The girls were kidnapped from their school about six weeks ago, a day after a bomb blast in a Bus Station in Nyanya, Abuja, destroyed 40 vehicles, killing 73 persons and injuring numerous others.

Mondays announcement by the defence chief brought instant relief to worried parents who began a mass protest three weeks after the girls' kidnap and Boko Haram issued a video threatening to 'sell them into slavery.'

The world-wide outrage sparked by the video forced the Nigerian authorities to accept international help in a bid to rescue the girls.

The United States, Britain, France, Japan and Israel are among countries whose help are helping to locate and rescue the girls.

On thursday last week, President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the deployment of additional troops to "aid the ongoing operation in the North-east to take down Boko Haram."

At a Press briefing at the National Briefing Centre on Terrorism in Abuja on Tuesday, during which the Coordinator and Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri said the troops will compliment the activities of Regional Alliance against Insurgency, a newly formed body to combat activities of groups like Boko Haram.

Although for operational reasons, Mr. Omeri said the number of additional troops deployed would not be revealed.

Additional information included that provided by the Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Chris Olukolade, who said operational structures had been set up in identified locations, mainly in operational zones.

“Structures for coordination of the activities of the inputs of allied countries’ forces in the ongoing search and rescue operations had been set up and is awaiting take-off,” Brig. Gen. Olukolade said.

How the girls would be rescued remain a subject of intense speculation.  Former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, called for a military intervention to free the girls, but with the latest information from the Nigerian military, it seems other options are being considered.

Spy planes and eavesdropping drones from Britain and the USA are among high tech devices being used to track the location of the girls who were said to have been split into four groups to make a forced military rescue difficult.

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