Boko Haram Video Claims to Show Missing Girls
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Boko Haram released a new video claiming to show the missing Nigerian schoolgirls who were abducted last month.
In the video, obtained by AFP on Monday, Abubakar Shekau, the group's leader, is shown speaking for 17 minutes before showing what he said were about 130 of the girls, wearing full-length abayas and praying in an undisclosed rural location.
Nearly 300 girls were abducted on April 14 from the northeastern town of Chibok, in Borno state. Fifty-three girls managed to escape.
Three of the girls in Monday's video are interviewed in the recording.
The girls appeared calm and one said that they had not been harmed.
There was no indication of when the video was taken, although the quality is better than on previous Boko Haram videos and at one point an armed man is seen in shot with a hand-held video camera.
Boko Haram has been waging an increasingly deadly insurgency in Nigeria, attacking schools teaching a "Western" curriculum, churches and government targets.
Civilians have borne the brunt of recent violence, with more than 1,500 killed this year alone, while tens of thousands have been displaced after their homes and businesses were razed.
Nigeria's government has been criticised for its lack of immediate response to the kidnapping but has been forced to act after Shekau threatened to sell the girls as slaves.
