13 Chibok Girls Die Of Snake Bite, Hunger In Boko Haram Captivity

Chibok girls in a picture President Buhari

December 27, 2017//-About thirteen of the remaining Chibok schoolgirls in captivity have reportedly died in the insurgents’ custody due to hunger and snake bites.

This was revealed in a report on the kidnap incident by Wall Street Journal which quoted officials as saying “13 of the girls have lost their lives during their nearly three years in Boko Haram custody”.

It will be recalled that Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276 girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State.

Of that number, 163 are now free as 57 fled in the early days after their abduction, three more escaped later, and 103 were released in by the insurgents.

“Of the remaining 113, at least 13 have died, officials say. Some were felled by malaria, hunger or a snake bite,” the WSJ report said.

“The majority died in airstrikes. Among those forcibly married to fighters, at least two died in childbirth.”

The report also stated that contrary to what was believed, the insurgents had only come to steal the bricklaying machine in the school.

It was only after they had stolen the machine that one of them raised question on what should be done with the girls.

“On the night of the attack, when the girls emerged in the courtyard, they could see the men were not soldiers,” the report continued.

“They wore unkempt beards, flip-flops and tattered uniforms. Several were raiding the school cafeteria, stealing sacks of rice, beans and pasta. Others poured gasoline on the school to torch it.

Boko Haram had not come to abduct the students. It had come to steal the school’s brickmaking machine. The insurgents had been on a kidnapping spree, and their camps faced a housing shortage.

“A commander fired his rifle in the air and demanded to know where the machine was kept. Once they found it, the fighters hoisted it onto a truck.

“As they prepared to leave, one militant, motioning to the students, asked a fateful question. What shall we do with them?

“The unit’s commander turned to the girls. ‘Shekau will know what to do with them,’ he said.

“The fighters ordered the students to climb into their trucks. The teenagers linked hands and arms as they stumbled through the dark.”

Independent.ng 

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