MOSCOW, November 16 (Sputnik) — The Nigerian army is reported Sunday to have recaptured Chibok, the town in northeast of the country, from where Nigerian girls were kidnapped by Islamic militants Boko Haram in April.
"Mopping up ops ongoing. Town [Chibok] is now secured," Nigerian army's spokesperson General Olajide Olaleye told Agence France Press Sunday.
Community leader in the town of Chibok, Pogu Bitrus, added that the operation was conducted together with the Civilian Joint Task Force, a local group of militants fighting Boko Haram in northeastern regions.
On Friday local newspaper Vanguard reported that Boko Haram had seized the town of Chibok after the group took the towns of Hong and Gombi in the neighboring state of the country.
In April, a violent Nigerian military group called Boko Haram, which translates as "against western education", kidnapped 276 schoolgirls, mostly Christian, while they were taking their exams in a secondary school in the northeastern town of Chibok. Those of them who refused to convert to Islam were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Fifty seven girls managed to escape.
The abduction caused international outrage. Attempts at negotiations with Boko Haram failed to secure a peace deal.
The group aims to establish a "pure" Islamic state ruled by sharia law, and has been waging insurgencies since 2009.
