Video claims to show kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls
In a newly released video that reportedly shows the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls, the leader of Islamist rebel group Boko Haram says he will release the girls in exchange for prisoners.
The 17-minute footage, obtained by news agency AFP, shows a group of girls, wearing headscarves, reciting Al-Fatiha - the first chapter from the Qu'ran - before one girl is seen saying the passage alone. The location is undisclosed but appears rural.
The video also shows Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau making demands to the camera.
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He says: "Those girls, those girls that you have been busy with, have converted to Islam.”
“Today, it has been four or five years since you have taken our brothers, they are now in your prison. You do a lot of things and now you come and talk about these girls. We will only release them after you release our brothers.”
The video's release comes after the governor of the Nigerian state of Borno said he had passed information onto the military for verification after reported sightings of the missing girls.
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The Nigerian government has been heavily criticised at home and abroad for being slow to react to the kidnapping of the 276 girls from their school dormitory.
The girls were seized by militants from a secondary school in the northeastern village of Chibok on April 14. Some managed to escape but around 200 remain missing.