Nigerian army finds another Chibok girl

ABUJA, Nigeria—The Nigerian army on Saturday found another one of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls in Nigeria’s Borno state.

Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman said in a statement an army battalion in Borno’s Gwoza local government area discovered Maryam Ali Maiyanga while screening people who had escaped Boko Haram’s stronghold in the Sambisa forest. Usman said the girl had a 10-month-old baby boy with her.

“She has been taken to the unit’s medical facility for proper medical check up,” he added.

Boko Haram fighters kidnapped more than 200 girls from a boarding school in Chibok in 2014. More than 50 girls managed to escape shortly after their capture and another girl escaped in May. The Nigerian government last month negotiated the release of 21 others, but 196 girls remain in captivity.

The Bring Back Our Girls movement, which has campaigned for the girls’ release, confirmed Maiyanga served as a school prefect before her abduction. The group said Maiyanga is a native of Borno state, and Boko Haram kidnapped her along with her twin sister, who is still with her captors.

“We applaud the federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari, the military, and other security formations working day and night to rout the terrorists and rescue all Nigerians in captivity,” the statement said.

The Nigerian military has been carrying out large-scale attacks against the insurgents in Borno state and neighboring regions. Usman said one battalion raided three towns in the area, killing five terrorists in the process. Several others escaped. Usman said the troops rescued some 85 people, mostly women and children. Another troop regiment on Friday killed 14 Boko Haram fighters in a clash in northern Borno, Usman said.

“We lost an officer and four soldiers, while four other soldiers sustained various degrees of injuries during the encounter,” he added.