As the world rallies to secure the release of the over 200 schoolgirls who were kidnapped from their school in Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram terrorists about a month ago, it has emerged that the insurgents are likely to have laid booby traps and landmines to stop the military from finding them, Sky News reported yesterday.
Last week, the insurgents blew up two bridges in Borno and Adamawa States, ostensibly to slow down Nigerian soldiers who have been searching for them and their victims for weeks.
Notwithstanding the attempts by the sect to stop the military from tracking them down, the global effort to rescue the girls continued at the weekend, with the offer by the Israeli government to send a team of counter-terrorism experts to assist in the search and rescue operations.
Japan, at the weekend, also assured the Nigerian government of its preparedness to send its civil defence forces as long as the United Nations endorses it.
Similarly, British Prime Minister David Cameron joined the BringBackOurGirls campaign during an interview yesterday on the BBC with fellow guest Christiane Amanpour.
According to Sky News, a former member of the Nigerian military recommended that starving members of Boko Haram could be a way of rescuing the girls.
Former Air Commodore Darlington Abdullahi said: “They may have made land mines, one cannot rule that out.
“One thing for sure is, even as they go along abducting children, they will also go after food; grabbing food from various angles.
“That is why it’s important that if the military from various countries close up on them that means the issue of starvation might come in and might even force them to find an exit and most likely abandon the girls that are still with them in the forest.”
Intelligence sources had previously told Sky News that they believe they know where some of the schoolgirls are.
The sources believe they have been split into at least four different groups.
Sky News also understands British and American officials are using advanced eavesdropping equipment to scan the Sambisa forest where the schoolgirls are suspected to be.
The militants are believed to have blown up an important bridge near where the girls were first seized, complicating efforts to find them.
Fleeing residents said the bridge between the states of Adamawa and Borno was destroyed on Friday.
A team of French experts arrived in the country on Saturday, as international efforts to find the schoolgirls were ramped up.
This follows British and American personnel arriving earlier in the week.
As international help continues to arrive, the Nigerian military has had tip-offs that Boko Haram could be planning another attack on the market in the capital Abuja.
It was further revealed that the federal government is indirectly in contact with the Islamist group, with intelligence sources stating that neighbouring Chad, Cameroun and Niger are also providing satellite imagery to help find the girls.
