Dube has established himself as one of the most destructive middle-order batters in the IPL, scoring 350 runs at a 170-plus strike rate
cricket7 hours ago
Nigerian troops have found two former schoolgirls who were abducted by Boko Haram militants eight years ago, the military said Tuesday, freeing some of the last victims of the 2014 Chibok abduction.
The two women each carried babies on their laps as the military presented them after captivity by militants who stormed their school in April, 2014 in northeast Nigeria in a mass kidnapping that sparked international outrage.
Major-General Christopher Musa, the military commander of troops in the region, told reporters the girls were found on June 12 and 14 in two different locations by troops.
“We are very lucky to have been able to recover two of the Chibok girls,” Musa said.
Dozens of Boko Haram militants stormed the Chibok girls’ boarding school in 2014 and packed 276 pupils, aged 12-17 at the time, into trucks in the militant group’s first mass school abduction.
Fifty-seven of the girls managed to escape by jumping from the trucks shortly after their abduction while 80 were released in exchange for some detained Boko Haram commanders following negotiations with the Nigerian government.
In the recent releases, one of the women, Hauwa Joseph, was found along with other civilians on June 12 around Bama after troops dislodged a Boko Haram camp, while the other, Mary Dauda, was found later outside Ngoshe village in Gwoza district, near the border with Cameroon.
On June 15 the military said on Twitter that they had found one of the Chibok girls named Mary Ngoshe. She turned out to be Mary Dauda.
“I was nine when we were kidnapped from our school in Chibok and I was married off not long ago and had this child,” Joseph told reporters at the military headquarters.
Joseph’s husband and father-in-law were killed in a military raid and she was left to fend for herself and her 14-month-old son.
“We were abandoned, no one cared to look after us. We were not being fed,” she said.
Thousands of Boko Haram fighters and families have been surrendering over the last year, fleeing government bombardments and infighting with the rival group Daesh West Africa Province.
The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced 2.2 million more since 2009.
Dauda, who was 18 when she was kidnapped was married at different times to Boko Haram fighters in the group’s enclave in the Sambisa forest.
“They would starve and beat you if you refused to pray,” Dauda said about life under Boko Haram.
She decided to flee and told her husband she was visiting another Chibok girl in Dutse village near Ngoshe, close to the border with Cameroon.
With the help of an old man who lived outside the village with his family, Dauda trekked all night to Ngoshe where she surrendered to troops in the morning.
“All the remaining Chibok girls have been married with children. I left more than 20 of them in Sambisa, she said. “I’m so happy I’m back.”
ALSO READ:
After the Chibok school mass abduction, militants carried out several mass abductions and deadly attacks on schools in the northeast.
In 2018, DaeshWest Africa Province fighters kidnapped 110 schoolgirls aged 11-19 years from Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC) Dapchi in neighbouring Yobe state.
All the schoolgirls were released a month later except Leah Sharibu, the only Christian among the girls, who was held by the group for refusing to renounce her faith.
Dube has established himself as one of the most destructive middle-order batters in the IPL, scoring 350 runs at a 170-plus strike rate
cricket7 hours ago
Fraser-McGurk has blasted 309 runs in seven matches for the Delhi Capitals at a strike-rate of 235.87
cricket7 hours ago
The mayor of Seoul also extended a cordial invitation to the RTA to participate in the upcoming Seoul Smart Life Week
uae7 hours ago
The units are equipped to transform residences into golfing sanctuaries while eradicating the limitations of weather, seasonality and tee times
sports7 hours ago
When the Paris opening ceremony begins on July 26, it will be the first time the city has played host for a century after previous editions in 1924 and 1900
sports7 hours ago
This decision to invite players outside of the top 100 has precedents which is an interesting initiative to watch
sports8 hours ago
Saudi Arabia's Abdullah Al-Qahtani meets Morocco's Taha Bendaoud in the main event
sports8 hours ago
The airport will have a passenger capacity of 260 million per annum and fully absorb Dubai airport operations
business8 hours ago