More than 100 girls 'missing' after Boko Haram school attack

Damaturu (Nigeria) (AFP) - More than 100 girls were missing on Wednesday, two days after a Boko Haram attack on their school in northeast Nigeria that has raised fears of a repeat of the 2014 Chibok kidnapping that shocked the world.

Islamist militants stormed the Government Girls Science Secondary School in Dapchi, Yobe state, on Monday evening. Locals initially said the girls and their teachers fled.

But fears have been growing about the whereabouts of the students, and one schoolgirl who escaped said it was likely they were taken by Boko Haram fighters.

"We have every reason to suspect that they were taken away by the attackers," said Aisha Yusuf Abdullahi, 16, who returned to her home in Yobe's commercial hub, Potiskum.

Anxious parents and guardians converged on the school on Wednesday to demand answers, with conflicting figures as to how many girls were missing.

The Yobe state governor Ibrahim Gaidam said "over 50" remained unaccounted for while the police commissioner of the state said 111 were still missing.

"Eight hundred and fifteen students returned to the school and were visibly seen, out of 926 in the school," said state police commissioner Abdulmaliki Sumonu.

"The rest are missing. No case of abduction has so far been established," he told reporters in the Yobe state capital, Damaturu.

Source: Yahoo News