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Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped: Military 'had advance warning' but failed to act Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped: Military 'had advance warning' but failed to act, Amnesty International claims
(about 2 hours later)
The Nigerian military had advance warning of an attack by Boko Haram where 276 girls were abducted from a school but failed to act, Amnesty International has claimed. Nigerian security forces were warned hours before the raid that led to the kidnapping of more than 240 school girls that an attack was about to be launched, Amnesty International has said.
The human rights group said reliable sources informed them the military in the state capital of Maiduguri were given more than four hours warning before the girls were kidnapped. The human rights group accused the Nigerian authorities of “gross dereliction of duty” as it claimed the security forces knew of the raid almost four hours before it took place but did too little to stop it.
Amnesty claims the military headquarters were alerted to the impending attack shortly after 7am local time, but enforcements were not deployed to Chibok, where the school is situated, until that night. The “damning” claim was made as Amnesty released details of information it had been given during “multiple interviews with credible sources”.
The group said this happened because of an inability to gather troops, due to poor resources and a reported fear of engaging with better-equipped armed groups. Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Africa director, said: “The fact that Nigerian security forces knew about Boko Haram’s impending raid, but failed to take the immediate action needed to stop it, will only amplify the national and international outcry at this horrific crime.
Netsanet Belay, Amnesty’s Africa Director said: “The fact that Nigerian security forces knew about Boko Haram’s impending raid, but failed to take the immediate action needed to stop it, will only amplify the national and international outcry at this horrific crime. “It amounts to a gross dereliction of Nigeria’s duty to protect civilians, who remain sitting ducks for such attacks. The Nigerian leadership must now use all lawful means at their disposal to secure the girls’ safe release and ensure nothing like this can happen again.”
The missing girls are reportedly being held in forested areas leading into neighbouring Cameroon.  At 11.45pm on 14 April some 200 armed men from the militant Islamic group Boko Haram entered the town of Chibok where, after a brief gun battle with 17 police officers and soldiers, they seized more than 240 pupils from the Government Girls Secondary School.
Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the abductions in a video earlier this week, in which leader Abubakar Shekau threatened to sell the girls as slaves and marry them off, claiming God had "instructed" him to sell them, saying: "they are his property and I will carry out his instructions." Yet as early as 7pm, Amnesty said, the military headquarters in the state capital, Maiduguri, had been warned of the impending attack.
Today, a US task force set up to help find the abducted girls has arrived in Nigeria to assist with the hunt. Warnings were repeated through the evening but reinforcements failed to reach the town until the following day, long after the raid and the abduction of the girls.
Military, law-enforcement and development experts, including some skilled in hostage negotiations, also plan to tackle the rising threat from Boko Haram. France, Britain and China have also offered help. Amnesty said: “An inability to muster troops – due to poor resources and a reported fear of engaging with the often better-equipped armed groups – meant that reinforcements were not deployed to Chibok that night.”
Local civilian patrols  in the nearby village of Gagilam were said to be among the first to report the presence of a large group of unidentified armed men on motorbikes. Among those alerted,  according to Amnesty, was the Borno state governor. Herdsmen had even reported that the armed men had demanded directions to the secondary school.
An official who was contacted by residents of Gagilam reportedly told Amnesty: “I was promised by the security people that reinforcement were on their way.”
The Nigerian authorities have yet to respond.
As a team of British experts arrived in Abuja to help find the girls, Prime Minister David Cameron said:  “This is a ghastly situation and an act of pure evil.”
The Foreign Office said: “The team will be considering not just the recent incidents but also longer-term counter-terrorism solutions to prevent such attacks in the future and defeat Boko Haram.”
Meanwhile Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, the top religious authority, condemned Boko Haram as a group “set up to smear the image of Islam” and condemned the kidnapping.