Chibok: American Marines Locate Abducted Girls In Sambisa Forest

[Flashermac]

There were indications yesterday that the 230 female students abducted by Boko Haram terrorists from the Government Girls’ Secondary School, GGSS, Chibok, Borno State, have been sited at the Sambisa Forest in Borno State, by special forces of the United States Marine Corps.

 

The girls who were abducted on April 14, were part of the 250 students boarded at the school for the West African School Certificate, WASC/ Senior Secondary School Certificate, SSSC, examinations, triggering world-wide condemnations.

 

This was even as more US military officials arrived Nigeria yesterday to join local officials in the search for nearly 300 school girls taken captives by the Islamist extremist group, Boko Haram, the US Secretary of State John Kerry, and the defence department, Pentagon, said.

 

The UK team had earlier arrived in Abuja to support Nigerian government in its response to the abduction of over 200 school girls.

 

The arrival of the foreign troops is coming on the heels of the appeal yesterday by the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar for Nigerians to unite and fight the insurgents to achieve success.

 

According to Kerry, “Our inter-agency team is hitting the ground in Nigeria now and they are going to be working with President Goodluck Jonathan’s government to do everything that we possibly can to return these girls.

 

â€The CNN also quoted the U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, John Kirby, who serves as Pentagon press secretary, as saying that the small team of seven would join advisers supporting local efforts to find the girls abducted over three weeks ago. Kerry said the US team, working with the Nigerian government, would do everything possible to free the girls and everything possible to stop the atrocities of Boko Haram.

 

“We are also going to do everything possible to counter the menace of Boko Haram. The entire world should not only be condemning this outrage but should be doing everything possible to help Nigeria in the days ahead,†he added.

 

But there are no plans to send American combat troops into Nigeria, Mr. Kirby said. The abduction of the school girls on April 14 in a remote community in Borno State, one of the most shocking terrorist acts by Boko Haram yet, has drawn widespread anger around the world with calls for a swift action.

 

President Goodluck Jonathan said Thursday that the kidnapping will be “the beginning of end†of Boko Haram. US President Obama has said he hopes the abduction by Boko Haram will galvanize the international community to act against the brutal group that has directed much of its cruelty on civilians and the innocent.

 

This week, more than 100 people were killed in a busy market by militants suspected to be from the group. The attack occurred in Gamboru Ngala, Borno State, near the Nigerian border with Cameroun. Besides the United States, Britain, France and China have also offered to help rescue the stolen girls. Obama said the team sent to Nigeria comprised personnel from military, law enforcement and other agencies. France said it will station 3,000 troops in Nigeria’s neighbouring countries to help fight militants in the Sahel region. British satellites and advanced tracking capabilities also will be used, and China has promised to provide any intelligence gathered by its satellite network.

 

Meanwhile in a statement yesterday, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said, “a team of UK experts who will advise and support the Nigerian authorities in its response to the abduction of over 200 school girls touched down in Abuja, Nigeria this morningâ€. The team is drawn from across government, including DfID, FCO and the MoD, and will work with the Nigerian authorities leading on the abductions and terrorism in Nigeria. The team will be considering not just the recent incidents but also longer-term counter-terrorism solutions to prevent such attacks in the future and defeat Boko Haram. The team will be working closely with their US counterparts and others to coordinate efforts.

...

 

 

http://www.vanguardn...sambisa-forest/

[bust]

I don't see this ending well at all.

[Flashermac]

US Marines, Satellite locate missing girls in Sambisa forest

 

 

Military sources have stated that a combined team of security agents in the field and back up communications and satellite imagery specialists have located the missing girls inside the dreaded Sambisa forest.

 

United States marines were also said to have used communications equipment to intercept a mobile phone call from a Boko Haram informant to insurgents giving them information on the movement of the marines and Nigerian security forces. The informant is said to have been arrested in Maiduguri and handed over to security officials.

 

This new information about the girls is said to be proof of a conspiracy to mislead the Nigerian public into believing that some of the girls had been sold into neighbouring countries.

 

United States marines are expected to lead rescue efforts in conjunction with other special forces from France, the United Kingdom and of course local troops to retrieve the girls and return them to their families.

 

 

http://www.theheraldng.com/us-marines-satellite-locate-missing-girls-sambisa-forest-bringbackourgirls

[bust]

http://youtu.be/Q_F1zUc79V0

[StoneSoup]

It would be nice to see the US Marines and the UK SAS apply the "General Pershing" approach toward "pacifying" the local Muslim barbarians:

 

http://cdn.motinetwork.net/demotivationalposters.net/image/demotivational-poster/0905/general-pershing-demotivational-poster-1243380359.jpg

 

Cheers!

SS

[Flashermac]

Waste of good pigs. Should have just shot them and buried them in pig shit.

[jitagawn]

Well its terrific to see the US military expertise used in such a positive manner. Yay.

[Flashermac]

As long as the US doesn't get bogged down in another war.

[Flashermac]

Nigeria's president shunned help in hunt for 300 abducted schoolgirls

 

 

The president of Nigeria for weeks refused international help to search for more than 300 girls abducted from a school by Islamic extremists, one in a series of blunders that have led to growing international outrage against the government.

 

Britain first said it was ready to help in a news release the day after the mass abduction on April 15, and made a formal offer of assistance on April 18, according to the British Foreign Office. And the US has said its embassy and staff agencies offered help and were in touch with Nigeria "from day one" of the crisis, according to Secretary of State John Kerry.

 

Yet it was only on Tuesday and Wednesday, almost a month later, that President Goodluck Jonathan accepted help from the US, Britain, France and China.

 

The delay underlines what has been a major problem in the attempt to find the girls: an apparent lack of urgency on the part of the government and military, for reasons that include a reluctance to bring in outsiders as well as possible infiltration by the extremists.

 

Jonathan bristled last week when he said US President Barack Obama, in a telephone conversation about aid, had brought up alleged human rights abuses by Nigerian security forces. Jonathan also acknowledged that his government might be penetrated by insurgents from Boko Haram, the extremist group that kidnapped the girls. Last year, he said he suspected Boko Haram terrorists might be in the executive, legislative and judiciary arms of government along with the police and armed forces.

 

The waiting has left parents in agony, especially since they fear some of their daughters have been forced into marriage with their abductors for a nominal bride price of US$12. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau called the girls slaves in a video last week and vowed to sell them.

 

"For a good 11 days, our daughters were sitting in one place," said Enoch Mark, the anguished father of two girls abducted from the Chibok girls school. "They camped them near Chibok, not more than 30 kilometres, and no help in hand."

 

The military has denied it ignored warnings of the impending attacks. Major General Chris Olukolade, a Defence Ministry spokesman, said the major challenge has been that some of the information given turned out to be misleading.

 

And Reuben Abati, one of Jonathan's presidential advisers, denied Nigeria had turned down offers of help. "That information cannot be correct," he said. "What John Kerry said is that this is the first time Nigeria is seeking assistance on the issue of the abducted girls."

 

In fact, Kerry has said Nigeria did not welcome US help earlier because it wanted to pursue its own strategy. A senior State Department official also said the US offered help "back in April, more or less right away."

 

"We didn't go public about it because the consensus was that doing so would make the Nigerians less likely to accept our help," said the official.

 

The abductions came hours after a huge explosion in the capital Abuja killed at least 75 people, just a 15-minute drive away from Jonathan's residence and office. Chibok government official Bana Lawal said that at about 11pm on April 15, he received a warning via cellphone that about 200 heavily armed militants were on their way to the town.

 

Lawal alerted the 15 soldiers guarding Chibok, who sent an SOS to the nearest barracks 48km away. But help never came. The military says its reinforcements ran into an ambush.

 

The soldiers in Chibok were outmanned and outgunned by the extremists. They then made their way to the school, where they captured dozens of girls. Police say 53 escaped on their own and 276 remain captive.

 

The following day, Jonathan was photographed dancing at a political party rally in northern Kano city, and newspapers asked what their leader was doing partying when the country was in shock over the kidnappings. The Defence Ministry also announced that all but eight of the kidnapped girls had been freed, quoting the school principal. When the principal demanded the military produce the rescued girls, it retracted its statement.

 

A state senator said every time he gave the military information from people who had caught sight of the girls, the insurgents moved camp. The military denied any collusion with the extremists.

 

On May 2, Jonathan set up a "largely fact-finding" committee to form a strategy for rescuing the girls. Last Sunday, he raised eyebrows by saying on television he was "happy" the missing girls were "unharmed," but then admitting the government had no new information from the abductors.

 

 

http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1510065/nigerias-president-shunned-help-hunt-300-abducted-schoolgirls

[The_Munchmaster]

Why don't they wait until they've tried to rescue the girls before telling the whole world, including the BH, that they know where they are?