(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Nigerian authorities asserted on Wednesday that the search continues to over 200 girls abducted by Boko Haram last year from their school dormitories in the northeastern Borno State's Chibok town.
"The search for Chibok girls continues and that is why even with the capture of Bama and the rest, security and military have never relented, and until it is concluded, we cannot begin to believe speculation," Mike Omeri, head of the National information center on counterterrorism, told a news briefing in Abuja Wednesday.
"I think the one year anniversary is next week, and we hope to give a comprehensive report on what we know so far, and how far the searching has gone," he added.
In April of last year, Boko Haram militants abducted 276 girls from their school dormitories in Chibok, according to official accounts.
Boko Haram kingpin Abubakar Shekau later claimed responsibility for the abductions, offering to trade the kidnapped girls for detained militants held by the Nigerian authorities.
At least 57 of the girls subsequently managed to escape their captors. The fate of the remaining girls, however, remains unknown.
At the time, the incident made global headlines, and several countries € including the U.S. € had offered to help Nigeria find the schoolgirls.
Omeri said everywhere is being done to locate the girls along with several other Boko Haram hostages.
"The assurance I will give you is that everywhere is being combed and whatever element we found will be revealed to appropriate authority and nobody is going to keep anything secret," he added.
Nigeria's Bring Back Our Girls movement is due to hold a special briefing in the coming days to call attention to the plight of the girls and their relatives.
Nigeria is fighting a six-year Boko Haram insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced over one million people from the country's northeast, where the militants have been the most ruthless.
The Nigerian military recently announced that all territory earlier captured by the insurgents in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states had all since been "liberated" by the army.
Gwoza, the headquarters of Boko Haram's self-styled Islamic caliphate, was liberated in late March.
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