ABUJA
Local authorities in Nigeria's northern Borno State announced Wednesday that four abducted schoolgirls had escaped from the militant Boko Haram group after more than 40 days in captivity.
"The latest report reaching us is that, instead of 53, those that have escaped are now 57, and those remaining are 164 and not 168 as before," Musa Elijah, director of personnel and management in the Chibok local council, told a meeting in Abuja on the humanitarian response to the crisis.
"This is out of the 221 girls that were abducted," he said.
On April 14, Boko Haram militants stormed a school in Chibok, located on the fringes of the Sambisa Forest, loading scores of them onto trucks before driving away unchallenged.
The exact number of abducted schoolgirls, however, still remains dogged by controversy.
Elijah called on the government to help rebuild the school, parts of which were torched when the militants abducted the girls.
A source at the National Emergency Management Agency, an organizer of the meeting, confirmed the four girls' escape to AA.
Nigerians remain divided over whether or not the government should accept a prisoner swap, offered by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in a recent video.
Government officials, however, have appeared inconsistent on the way forward to rescue the girls.
While Information Minister Labaran Maku recently said the government would explore "all options," presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said they would not swap the girls for Boko Haram prisoners.
Nigerian Chief of Defense Staff Alex Badeh said Monday that authorities knew the girls' whereabouts but were being cautious regarding planned rescue operations so as not to endanger the lives of the captives.
By Rafiu Ajakaye
www.aa.com.tr/en
