One of 276 girls abducted in 2014 by the Boko Haram insurgent group in Nigeria was found and identified, activists said Wednesday.
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The 19-year-old’s uncle, Yakubu Nkeki, said she was pregnant and traumatised, but otherwise unharmed.
The girl, named as Amina Nkek, was reportedly discovered on Tuesday night by a vigilante group after a fight with suspected militants for the Islamic extremist group on the edge of the Sambisa Forest in the country’s northeast region, where it has always been thought they were being held.
One of her neighbors told the BBC that she was found with a baby, and her uncle said she was reunited with her mother.
Fifty-seven of the girls were able to escape quickly.
“The rest of the girls are alive and well, and are holed up in Sambisa Forest under Boko Haram fortification”, he said.
The kidnapping of the Chibok girls from their school unleashed a wave of global outrage, backed by figures such as US First Lady Michelle Obama under the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. Dozens escaped in the first hours, but 219 remained missing. “She was brought first to Chibok by the vigilantes who took her to the vice-principal of her school, who immediately identified her as Aisha Ali, which is her name in the school register”.
A spokesman for the parents of the Chibok girls has confirmed the discovery to Reuters.
Mr Bitrus said he was working with officials to establish their identity. “They were just about to sit exams”, she says. “So the families have been desperate for news of these girls for the past two years and one month”.
Since the outcry the Nigerian has said its troops are making gains in the area and have pushed the terrorist group back, however attacks from Boko Haram are still on-going. Amina’s father died while she was held captive.
The United States, France and Britain offered help to find the girls, sending drones that flew over the Sambisa Forest, hostage negotiators, intelligence officers and others.
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Boko Haram released a video claiming to show the missing Nigerian schoolgirls, alleging they had converted to Islam and would not be released until all militant prisoners were freed. “They had had no bath and were in a dirty condition”, he said. They killed at least fifteen Boko Haram fighters.
