Vigilante Group Finds One of the Missing Chibok School Girls, Others Left Behind, 6 Reportedly Dead

By Kiersten Willis | Published on May 18, 2016

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One of the missing Chibok schoolgirls has been found in Nigeria, activists say, the first to be rescued since their capture two years ago.

Activists told the BBC that Amina Ali Nkeki was found by a vigilante group on Tuesday in the huge Sambisa Forest, close to the border with Cameroon.

In all, 218 girls remain missing after their abduction from a secondary school in northeast Nigeria in April 2014.

The girls were taken by militants from the Boko Haram Islamist group.

Amina was reportedly recognized by a civilian fighter. The fighter belonged to the Civilian Joint Task Force, a vigilante group set up to help fight Boko Haram.

Aboku Gaji, leader of the vigilante group in Chibok, said, “The moment this girl was discovered by our vigilantes, she was brought to my house. I instantly recognized her, and insisted we should take her to her parents.

“On seeing her, the mother and other relatives rushed to hug her and started shedding tears. Afterwards, we had to make them understand that the girl would not be left in their care. She must be handed over to the authority.”

Hosea Abana Tsambido, the chairman of the Chibok community in the capital, Abuja, told the BBC that Amina had been found after venturing into the forest to search for firewood.

“She was saying… all the Chibok girls are still there in the Sambisa except six of them that have already died.”

Sources told the BBC that she was from the town of Mbalala, south of Chibok, from where 25 of the kidnapped girls came. A neighbor in Mbalala told the BBC that Amina was found with a baby.

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