Boko Haram free 91 schoolgirls kidnapped from school

BOKO HARAM militants have released 91 of 110 schoolgirls they abducted in February, but issued a warning that the children must not return to education.

The Nigerian government said in a statement on Wednesday that 91 released students had been documented so far, adding that the release of more girls was ongoing. But witnesses said fighters had returned the girls “out of pity”, leaving them with a chilling note to parents that “this is a warning to you all”. The fighters returned the girls in the early hours of the morning, sources said, saying “don’t you ever put your daughters in school again”.

Boko Haram abducted the 110 girls in February, when they stormed a school in the town of Dapchi, northeastern Nigeria. The attack was described as a “national disaster” by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, and the country’s civil defence force was deployed to schools as a search for the missing students got under way.

Witnesses said the militants had asked for directions to the girls’ school before carrying out the attack.

The Boko Haram group, with a name that loosely means “imported western education is forbidden”, was responsible for the kidnap of 276 girls from a boarding school in Chibok, Nigeria, in 2014.

Many of the abducted girls were forced to marry their kidnappers and more than 100 are still missing. The abductions sparked worldwide horror with figures including Michelle Obama appealing for the release of the girls.