Freed Chibok Girls Meet Families After Three Years
More than 100 girls are still being held captive by Boko Haram
WASHINGTON — Families of the 82 Nigerian schoolgirls released from captivity recently after being held for years by Boko Haram were reunited for the first time Saturday in the Nigerian capital Abuja. The girls are among the 276 Chibok schoolgirls abducted from their boarding school by the terrorists in 2014. They were granted freedom as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government. Twenty-one others were freed in October, while several more girls have either been let go individually or escaped. More than 100 of the girls are still being held, though the government has said it hopes to negotiate their release. Boko Haram has killed thousands in its eight-year terrorist campaign to turn northern Nigeria into a staunch Islamic state. Nigerian officials say they believe the militants kidnapped the girls to intimidate civilians against resistance. Many of the girls were forced to marry their terrorist captors and have had children with them. Some have been radicalized and refuse to return, while it is feared others have been used in suicide bombings.