Fear grips Parents after mass kidnap by boko haram extremists

Desperate parents pleaded on
Wednesday for an end to their "nightmare" after
Boko Haram extremists kidnapped more than
100 girls from a secondary school in Borno.

The mass abduction by heavily armed insurgents
from the Chibok area of Borno state late Monday
came just hours after a bomb ripped through a
packed bus station on the outskirts of Abuja,
killing 75 people, the deadliest attack ever in the
capital.
The bombing was also blamed on Boko Haram.
"They took away my daughter," said one woman
from Chibok, who like several parents requested
anonymity given the uncertain fate of the
children.

"I don't know what to do," she told AFP, urging
the government to find the kidnappers. "They
should not allow our daughters' dreams to be
shattered by these murderers."
A father who said his daughter was taken in the
attack described the ordeal as a "nightmare."

"The whole town is in mourning," he said from
Chibok.
The gunmen stormed the Government Girls
Secondary School after sundown on Monday,
torching several buildings before opening fire on
security forces guarding the school.

Searching the forest

It is not yet clear why the Chibok school was
open, but Emmanuel Sam, an education officer
based in the area said the girls had been
scheduled to write exams this week and that
school was full when the attackers arrived.

Witnesses said the gunmen killed a police officer
and soldier in the shootout and ultimately forced
their way into the school.
They then forced the girls outside and loaded
them on to trucks and drove off into the bush of
the remote region, notorious for its terrible
roads.

A senior security source, who said than more
than 100 girls were taken, told AFP the troops
had tracked the tyre marks of the convoy and
were pursuing the extremists.

Senator Ali Ndume, who represents the region,
said the pursuit included soldiers backed by
members of a local vigilante force which formed
last year to help fight Boko Haram.
"They are now combing the forest to rescue the
school girls," he told AFP. "They are being aided
by surveillance helicopters," he said, but noted
the difficulty of the search in a vast forest that
extends to neighbouring Cameroon.

The fight against Boko Haram has been hindered
by the porous borders it shares with its
northeastern neighbours, including Cameroon
and Niger, with the Islamists evading pursuit by
slipping through unmanned posts.
Some of the girls escaped by jumping off a truck
when the gunmen became distracted by a
vehicle that had broken down.
"They tried to fix it," one of the girls who fled
told AFP by phone from Chibok on condition of
anonymity. "It was at this moment that some of
us jumped out of the vehicles and ran into the
bush."

Turning to prayer

President Goodluck Jonathan and the military
have sought to portray Boko Haram as being on
the defensive and rapidly losing strength thanks
to a massive offensive in the northeast launched
last May.
But a major bombing just a few kilometres from
the seat of government in Abuja and another
attack targeting defenceless students has
underscored the serious threat the extremists
continue to pose.

The military has so far refused to comment on
the abductions, even as the tragedy dominates
the front pages of most leading newspapers, and
the status of the rescue operation remains
unclear.
"We have turned to prayers," said the mother
whose daughter was taken. "(It) is all we have."