Eleven Parents of Kidnapped Nigerian Girls Died; At Least 4 Died of Trauma, 7 from Islamic Attack

In the three months since Islamic extremists kidnapped more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls, 11 of their parents have died, the Telegraph (British) website reports today (July 22, 2014).

The town where the girls were kidnapped, Chibok, is cut off by Islamic militants, who have been attacking villages in the region. The militants are determined that Nigeria must adopt sharia (Islamic law), and have said the girls are being sold into slavery and as child brides.

Seven fathers of kidnapped girls were among 51 bodies brought to the Chibok hospital after an attack on the nearby village of Kautakari this month, said a health worker who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisals by the extremists.

At least four more parents have died of heart failure, high blood pressure, and other illnesses that the community blames on trauma due to the mass abduction 100 days ago, said community leader Pogu Bitrus. "One father of two of the girls kidnapped just went into a kind of coma and kept repeating the names of his daughters, until life left him," said Bitrus.