Cameroon: Arrested Suicide Bomber Claims to be Missing Nigerian Chibok schoolgirl

Posted by African Examiner East/Central Africa, Latest Headlines Saturday, March 26th, 2016

Authorities in Cameroon and Nigeria are investigating a claim from a would-be suicide bomber that she was one of a group of schoolgirls abducted in 2014.

The Nigerian government is sending parents to Cameroon to attempt to identify the girl.

She told investigators in Cameroon she was one of 270 kidnapped in Chibok by jihadist group Boko Haram.

The abductions sparked international outrage and the #bringbackourgirls social media campaign.

While about 50 of the girls managed to escape, 219 of these girls remain missing. They were taken by the militants from the Chibok community in northeastern Nigeria.

Reuters news agency reported that one of two girls arrested in northern Cameroon on Friday carrying explosives claimed to be one of the missing Chibok girls.

The girls were arrested after being stopped by local self-defence forces in Limani near the border with Nigeria, the target of frequent suicide bombings in recent months.

“We hope that the Chibok parents will be able to identify the girl and determine whether she is indeed one of their missing students,” Garba Shehu, a spokesman for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, told Reuters.

BBC News