UPDATES WITH GOVERNMENT REACTION
By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - The Boko Haram militant group has released a video Sunday purporting to show dozens of the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted in April 2014 from the northern Nigerian town of Chibok.
In the video, the group said the girls would only be freed in exchange for hundreds of Boko Haram fighters in detention.
“We will only release the girls in exchange for our brothers in detention in Lagos, Abuja and Maiduguri and other places,” a hooded militant said in the video released on YouTube on Sunday.
The video purportedly showed dozens of the girls to corroborate claims it has custody of the hostages -- several were carrying babies strapped to their backs.
The group, for the first time, announced that several of girls had been killed in raids by military fighter jets, and said the risk of more of them dying would increase should the army continue its bombardment of the militants’ hideouts.
The video also allegedly showed several bodies of the Chibok girls killed in airstrikes - a narrative some analysts say should be taken with a pinch of salt since there appears to be machete wounds on some of the bodies.
One of the headscarved girls spoke briefly in the footage, appealing for their release.
One militant in the video said the group had no one currently negotiating with the Nigerian government, insisting that the group “remains cohesive and strong” contrary to claims that it has been decimated by the army.
In reaction, the Nigerian government said it stepped up efforts to secure the release of the girls, including being “in touch” with their Boko Haram abductors.
“We are on top of the situation. But we are being extremely careful because the situation has been compounded by the split in the leadership of Boko Haram. We are also being guided by the need to ensure the safety of the girls,” Information Minister Lai Mohammed said in a statement on Sunday.
There are two factions within Boko Haram -- one loyal to ultraviolent Abubakar Shekau and the other to Daesh-sanctioned leader Abu Musab Al-Barnawy
''Since this is not the first time we have been contacted over the issue, we want to be doubly sure that those we are in touch with are who they claim to be,'' he said.
The military, for its part, denied ever targeting the abducted girls in any airstrike by the Air Force.
“It is extremely difficult and rare to hit innocent people during airstrikes because the operation is done through precision attack on identified and registered targets and locations,” director of defense spokesman Rabe Abubakar said in a statement.