Nigerian officials dispute rescue of kidnapped girls

The government of Nigeria’s Yobe state on Thursday evening disputed claims that the Nigerian army rescued dozens of schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants during an attack earlier this week. On Wednesday, state spokesman Abdullahi Bego reported the army rescued some of the students kidnapped Monday from the government girls secondary school in the village of Dapchi. “We have now established that the information we relied on to make the statement was not credible,” Bego said in a new statement. Officials have yet to confirm the actual number of girls still missing. Bego earlier noted that more than 50 of the school’s 926 students were unaccounted for. Information Minister Lai Mohammed asked for more time to verify the number as officials speak with the girls’ parents. The school kidnapping is the largest since Boko Haram extremists captured more than 200 schoolgirls from the northeastern town of Chibok nearly four years ago.