Cautious optimism over Nigeria’s kidnapped girls

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – There’s no dancing in the streets, but people in the hometown of more than 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls are cautiously optimistic about news of a ceasefire with the Islamic extremists who abducted their daughters six months ago.

“We don’t know how true it is until we prove it,” Bana Lawan, chairman of the Chibok Local Government Area, said Saturday. “We will know the negotiations were successful when we see the girls physically. And then we will know it is true. And then we will celebrate.”

Community leader Pogu Bitrus said “people rejoiced, but with caution” after the military announced the cease-fire with the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram on Friday.

Even as the community leaders were speaking by telephone to The Associated Press, Boko Haram fighters were attacking another town in Borno state about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Chibok.

The militants struck the town of Shaffa first on Friday, the day the military announced the cease-fire, killing at least eight residents, wounding several more and putting hundreds of people to flight, according to residents who escaped.