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| Nigerian Girl Abducted by Boko Haram from Chibok Is Found | Nigerian Girl Abducted by Boko Haram from Chibok Is Found |
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| LAGOS, Nigeria — One of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago during a mass abduction at a school in Nigeria has been found, community leaders in the area said on Wednesday. | LAGOS, Nigeria — One of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago during a mass abduction at a school in Nigeria has been found, community leaders in the area said on Wednesday. |
| The girl, Amina Ali, was wandering in the forest when members of a vigilante group lying in wait to ambush a Boko Haram camp came across her, said Aboku Gaji, a local vigilante commander. | The girl, Amina Ali, was wandering in the forest when members of a vigilante group lying in wait to ambush a Boko Haram camp came across her, said Aboku Gaji, a local vigilante commander. |
| The kidnapping of nearly 300 girls during exam time at their boarding school in the Nigerian town of Chibok shocked the world and helped galvanize pressure on the government to fight Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group that has terrorized parts of northern Nigeria for years. | The kidnapping of nearly 300 girls during exam time at their boarding school in the Nigerian town of Chibok shocked the world and helped galvanize pressure on the government to fight Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group that has terrorized parts of northern Nigeria for years. |
| Some girls managed to escape shortly after the fighters stormed their school and hauled their classmates away. But Ms. Ali is the first girl to be found since the early days of the episode. | |
| More than 200 girls who were taken from the school on April 14, 2014, are still missing. The mass abduction was one of the most notorious acts by a group that has rampaged through the north of Nigeria, burning entire villages and carrying out rapes, beheadings, lootings and other acts of violence. | More than 200 girls who were taken from the school on April 14, 2014, are still missing. The mass abduction was one of the most notorious acts by a group that has rampaged through the north of Nigeria, burning entire villages and carrying out rapes, beheadings, lootings and other acts of violence. |
| The inability to find and rescue the girls has been a political embarrassment for President Muhammadu Buhari and for the Nigerian military, which has made recent gains in fighting Boko Haram and releasing entire towns from its control. | The inability to find and rescue the girls has been a political embarrassment for President Muhammadu Buhari and for the Nigerian military, which has made recent gains in fighting Boko Haram and releasing entire towns from its control. |
| A military spokesman on Wednesday said that one of the Chibok girls was among a group of people rescued by troops, claiming credit for the recovery. The military used a different name, Falmata Mbalala, though some people from the area use more than one name. | A military spokesman on Wednesday said that one of the Chibok girls was among a group of people rescued by troops, claiming credit for the recovery. The military used a different name, Falmata Mbalala, though some people from the area use more than one name. |
| According to the vigilante commander, Ms. Ali was with a baby and a man described as her husband. The commander said the husband had been captured by militants as well, and that the two married while being held by Boko Haram. The couple had apparently escaped the militants’ camp. | According to the vigilante commander, Ms. Ali was with a baby and a man described as her husband. The commander said the husband had been captured by militants as well, and that the two married while being held by Boko Haram. The couple had apparently escaped the militants’ camp. |
| Members of the vigilante group took Ms. Ali to Chibok, where her mother saw her and confirmed her identity, Mr. Aboku said. Other members of the community of Chibok also confirmed Ms. Ali had been found. She told her family that the other girls from Chibok were still in the forest but that six of them had died. | Members of the vigilante group took Ms. Ali to Chibok, where her mother saw her and confirmed her identity, Mr. Aboku said. Other members of the community of Chibok also confirmed Ms. Ali had been found. She told her family that the other girls from Chibok were still in the forest but that six of them had died. |
| Ms. Ali was in the custody of the Nigerian military in the town of Damboa, according to Mr. Aboku. | Ms. Ali was in the custody of the Nigerian military in the town of Damboa, according to Mr. Aboku. |
| Hassan Usman, a Chibok resident whose nice is among the abducted schoolgirls, said he had seen the rescued girl arrive in Chibok in a car driven by local vigilante members from the neighboring town of Mbalala, where her family lives. The vigilantes took Ms. Ali to the marketplace in the town’s center, the same place a suicide bombing took place earlier this year. | |
| “She was so happy to see her people,” Mr. Usman said. “People were so happy, so happy that, yes, there is hope these girls are alive. And once the government puts more effort, we will see some of them.” | |
| Some local residents who saw her started crying. | |
| Holding a baby, Ms. Ali talked with residents for about a half-hour, telling them she had been held in a village in the Sambisa Forest along with about 60 other female captives. Some of them were her classmates from Chibok; others were from other communities. | |
| American officials have said that clusters of the schoolgirls have been located at times using a combination of local intelligence gathering, intercepted communications and drone footage. | |
| But rescue operations have not been carried out, the officials said, because of fears that any ensuing battle with Boko Haram fighters would put the captives at risk, or incite retaliation against hostages still being held in other areas. | |
| Mr. Usman said the rescued girl had described how Boko Haram tried to shield the hostages from aerial surveillance. “Anytime they sighted a fighter jet or any helicopter or military aircraft, they hide them under the ground so that it will prevent the military from seeing,” she told villagers, Mr. Usman said. | |
| Ms. Ali was able to escape because the military began bombing the forest and the militants scattered, leaving her unguarded. Nigeria’s military earlier this month launched a push into Sambisa called “Operation Sambisa Crackdown.” | |
| Ms. Ali was in the custody of the Nigerian military in the town of Damboa, according to community members and members of the volunteer civilian joint task force. Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, a military spokesman, declined to comment further on the girl, saying the military was in the process of confirming various details about her. | |
| The kidnapping of the schoolgirls captured the world’s attention. An international campaign with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls drew in Michelle Obama and Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani student who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban. | The kidnapping of the schoolgirls captured the world’s attention. An international campaign with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls drew in Michelle Obama and Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani student who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban. |