Schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram State militants at their school in Dapchi, Yobe have been rescued by the military, Abuja based Daily Trust has reported.
The Yobe State Government had earlier today indicated that over 40 of the girls were still missing.
According to the newspaper, the girls were rescued at Jilli-Muwarti, a border village between Gaidam in Yobe state and Borno State.
Alhaji Abdullahi Bego, Director General to Yobe governor on Press affairs, confirmed the rescue of the girls in a press statement issued late Wednesday.
“The Yobe State Government hereby informs the public that some of the girls at Government Girls Science Technical College (GGSTC) whose school was attacked by Boko Haram terrorists last Monday have been rescued by gallant officers and men of the Nigerian Army from the terrorists who abducted them.
“The rescued girls are now in the custody of the Nigerian Army.
“We will provide more details about their number and condition in due course.
“His Excellency Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, who is very grateful for the gallantry and hard work of the officers and men of the Nigerian Army involved in the operation, is monitoring the situation closely and will make a statement in due course” the statement said.
Daily Trust also report that some of the girls who had earlier returned were rescued by villagers in bushes around Dapchi town.
“You know, some of the children trekked 15 to 20 kilometres in the bush to save their lives. We also received calls from Fulani settlements that they are bringing more students they found in the bush,” he said,” the newspaper said quoting a source in the school.
Yobe state Commissioner of Education, Mohammed Lamin, was also quoted to have confirmed that the number of missing students is down from 94 after the Tuesday’s head count to 48 before the announcement of the rescue of some of the students by soldiers.
Yobe Police Commissioner, Abdumaliki Sunmonu put the number of girls missing after the attack at 111 on Wednesday.
But he said he had no evidence that the missing students were abducted by the Boko Haram invaders.
“From us (Police), no case of abduction has been established, and from the military, they had not told me any because it is a joint operation led by the military,” he said.
However, Daily Trust quoted credible sources in Dapchi town as confirming the abduction of the girls.
According to the newspaper, one of the sources said they had established that some of the girls were loaded into a Tata truck by Boko Haram fighters who disguised as soldiers.
He said his niece simply identified as Maryam was yet to be found and called on authorities to dispatch rescue experts to help bring back the girls.
“The whole area where the girls fled to is porous, I fear some of them might die because of thirst in the desert,” he said.
The newspaper also quoted another source in Dapchi as telling its reporter that while the insurgents invaded the school firing gun shots, with where the foodstuffs were kept as their target, others dressed in military uniforms parked their Tata trucks outside the perimeter fence of the school.
“They pretended to be soldiers and beaconed on some of the fleeing girls. They ended up going with them through the vast desert that leads to parts of Geidam and Yunusari local government areas,” he said.
Another source in Gaidam said the terrorists mobilized from locations around River Yobe that runs through Yunusari Local Government Area that shares borders with Niger Republic and northern fringes of Borno State.
He said the Boko Haram terrorists relocated to the place after serious offensive by Nigerian troops around the shores of the Lake Chad.
“We keep saying that they are living around Bulabulin, Buhari, Alagarno, Mattari and Kayaderi, Puchimeram, Bultuwa, Ngaltra, Matari and Kadar lamba among other places,” he said.
He said the terrorists are now “extremely mobile and keep moving with their captives unless something urgent is done.
A father to one of the abducted girls who has returned home, Modu Auduye, a staff of Borno State Rehabilitation Centre, Bulumkutu, Maiduguri was also quoted by Daily Trust as confirming the abduction of some of the missing girls by Boko Haram.
Auduye told the newspaper his daughter, Hajja Halima A. Karam, 16, a student of SS 2 at the secondary school ran away from the abductors after falling off the Toyota Hilux pickup van into which they were crammed, along with her mates by the Boko Haram invaders.
He added that after falling off the van, Halima ran to a road where she was assisted by passers-by to get home at about 5pm of Tuesday.
President Buhari’s delegation to Yobe led by the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, to Dapchi, is however expected to get first-hand information about the Boko Haram attack.
Minister of Foreign Affairs will also be part of the delegation.
The President has also directed the military to give him more information about the incident.
*Updated
With reports from Daily Trust, Saharareporters