A suspected female suicide bomber who was intercepted in northern Cameroon on Friday before she could blow herself up claimed to be one of the over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno State in April 2014.
Reuters reports that two girls laden with explosives were stopped by local self-defence forces in the village of Limani in northern Cameroon on Friday and were promptly handed over to Cameroonian soldiers belonging to a multi-national force set up to combat Boko Haram.
“One of them indeed declared that she is one of the Chibok hostages. She is around 15. We are now verifying, because on the Nigerian side they have the names and photos of these girls,” a local government administrator, Raymond Roksdo, told the news agency.
Two military sources, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the press, also confirmed that the girl had claimed to have been one of the Chibok abductees.
“We need a few days to be able to confirm this information. We have to debrief all the men who were present and interrogate the two girls before we can say anything,” one of the military sources said.
It would be recalled that Boko Haram militia raided Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State on April 14, 2014, abducting about 300 schoolgirls, who have since been in their captivity.
Shortly after, an advocacy group – Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) – was formed and has continued to press for the release of the girls.