Some 234 girls are missing from the northeast Nigerian school attacked last week by Islamic extremists, significantly more than the 85 reported by education officials, parents told the state governor today (April 21, 2014), according to the ABC News website.
The higher figure came out a week after the kidnappings when the Borno state governor insisted a military escort take him to the town. Parents told the governor that officials would not listen to them when they drew up their list of names of missing children and the total reached 234.
Security sources have said they are in "hot pursuit" of the abductors, but so far they have not rescued any of the girls and young women, aged between 16 and 18.
The kidnappings are believed to have been carried out by Nigeria's Islamic extremist rebels, known as Boko Haram. Boko Haram -- the nickname means "Western education is sinful" -- is violently campaigning to establish an Islamic Shariah state in Nigeria, whose 170 million people are about half Muslim and half Christian.
The Islamic extremists use the girls and young women as porters, cooks, and sex slaves, according to Nigerian officials.
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