Nearly seven years after more than 200 girls were kidnapped from their school in Chibok, Nigeria, by Boko Haram, more girls have escaped and are being reunited with their families.
Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian human rights lawyer, told ABC News on Thursday that a father informed him that his daughter had escaped the militant group.
“Ali Maiyanga’s two daughters were among the few Muslim students taken with most of the Chibok Christian girls. The information currently available to us indicates that there are other fugitives with the army that the parents are eager to identify,” said Ogebe.
Maiyanga was able to speak with her daughter on Thursday, the report said.
Boko Haram, a militant group with a name that means “Western education is prohibited”, attacked a boarding school for girls only in 2014. The attack caused 276 girls to be kidnapped in the middle of the night.
Maiyanga’s daughter is not the only one who escaped from Boko Haram this week. Lawal Zannah, secretary of the Chibok Parent Association, said others had also escaped.
This is not the first time that girls kidnapped by Boko Haram have been found. Other girls either escaped their captors before or were released after negotiations.
Boko Haram has been terrorizing Nigeria since 2009 and swore allegiance to ISIS in 2015. It remains unclear what happened to some of the girls after they were kidnapped.