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Chibok schoolgirls 'not freed in Nigeria' | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Nigeria's military has retracted its statement that some of the schoolgirls abducted from Chibok town in April by Islamist militants had been freed. | |
Army spokesman Brig Gen Chris Olukolade told the BBC there were girls in military custody, but not those from Chibok as originally thought. | |
More than 200 girls were seized by Boko Haram fighters from a boarding school in the north-eastern Borno state. | |
It caused worldwide outrage and sparked a social media campaign. | It caused worldwide outrage and sparked a social media campaign. |
Protests were organised under the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, calling on the authorities to do more to free the girls, who had gone to the school in Chibok from surrounding areas to take their final year exams. | |
Shortly after the abduction, Boko Haram released a video showing more than 100 of them and offering an exchange for prisoners. | |
In recent days there have been unconfirmed reports that the Nigerian government has been negotiating a deal with Boko Haram to exchange the abducted girls for imprisoned Islamist fighters. | |
Boko Haram's name translates as "Western education is forbidden", and it has carried out several attacks on schools and colleges, seeing them as a symbol of Western culture. |