Breaking: Dapchi girls returned by Boko Haram

The BBC reports that many residents have confirmed to them that many of the 110 schoolgirls were brought back in a vehicle convoy this morning. The circumstances of their return are still not quite clear, but there are indications five of the girls may have died. The girls were abducted from their school on the evening of Monday, 19 February, by a group of militants who had attacked the town of Dapchi.

Kundili Bukar tells the BBC the militants – believed to be Boko Haram – drove into the town in a motorcade and surrendered the girls to the community. The militants are said to have left immediately. He said the girls were looking haggard and tired – although some reportedly found the strength to run home to their families after being released.

Another parent, Manuga Lawal, says he had managed to speak to his daughter Aisha, who was among the kidnapped girls, on the phone.

The police chief in Yobe state, Abdulmaliki Sunmonu, would not confirm whether or not the girls had returned, but said he had heard the same reports.

However, a military officer working at a checkpoint near the town told Reuters news agency: “Boko Haram have brought the girls.”

Umar Hassan, a resident in Dapchi town, tells The Associated Press that many fled upon hearing that Boko Haram insurgents were headed into the town again. He says that while in hiding, residents saw the missing girls getting out of the Boko Haram vehicles.

Another resident, Kachallah Musa, tells Washington Post the militants later left without any confrontation.

Their release comes a day after an Amnesty International report accused the Nigerian military of failing to heed warnings of the attack. The military has called the report an “outright falsehood.”

Originally, it was claimed many of the girls had escaped and no-one had been kidnapped. But a week later, authorities admitted they were taken by the Islamist militants.

The kidnapping raised uncomfortable parallels with the abduction of the Chibok girls, who were taken from their school in neighbouring Borno state in April 2014.

Some of those girls remain in captivity.