The Nigerian military has said that it has discovered where more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from the town of Chibok in Borno State last month are located but would not use force to try and rescue the girls.

Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh told the Nigerian State News Agency that any attempt to rescue the girls with force would put the girls’ life in extreme danger and probably risk being killed by the militants.

“Nobody should come and say the Nigerian military does not know what it’s doing, we know what we are doing, the president is solidly behind us and has empowered us to do the work,”.

“The good news for the parents of the girls is that we know where they are, but we cannot tell you, but where they are held, can we go there with force? We can’t kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back”, Badeh was quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria as saying.

But political analysts say this is a cover up by the military as they want to calm down agitations and protests from the public. There were series of protests amid strike actions by teachers across the country since last week.

Leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau has said that he would only free the girls if the government releases it jailed fighters or he would sell the girls at the market.

But the Nigeria authorities previously insisted that it would not agree to free Boko Haram members in return for their release but the Information Ministry contradicted this statement by saying that all options were on the table.

Earlier on Monday, the BBC claimed it had privy to confidential information that the government nearly traded the girls with jailed Boko Haram militants but the deal was stopped last minute as a result of misunderstanding in the government. The government has not confirm or denied this story.

According to the Reuters News Agency, since the girls were abducted, at least 470 civilians have been killed as a result of Boko Haram’s attacks in various locations in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, suspected Boko Haram militants killed four soldiers on Monday in an ambush on a military patrol vehicle in central Plateau State. An anonymous local government official said the soldiers were on routine patrol checks when gunmen ambushed them and opened fire.

A bomb killed four people on Saturday night as they were watching the UEFA Champion League finals between Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid in Jos, the capital of Plateau State.

But despite all these confusions and attacks, an international rescue operation is still being carried out by the US and its allies to be able to locate the girls.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

Writer’s Email Address: Adamsisska@googlemail.com

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