Nigeria. Schoolgirl kidnapped by Boko Haram found after ten years

The Nigerian army announced on Thursday that it had found Lydia Simon, who was kidnapped by Boko Haram a decade ago. On the night of April 14-15, 2014, militants from this organization attacked a high school in Chibok in eastern Nigeria and abducted 276 girls aged 12 to 17.

Simon was found in Ngoshe village in Gwoza commune, about 150 km from Chibok, with her three small children who were born in captivity. The army said the woman was five months pregnant. There was no information on when exactly or how she was saved.

SEE ALSO: 10 years have passed since the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok. One survivor: I am deeply unhappy

Some of the students kidnapped from Chibok, now adult women, managed to rescue themselves or escaped from captivity themselves. 57 of them escaped just a few hours after the kidnapping, jumping out of the trucks in which they were transported. In recent years, some have been found abandoned in forests. On the anniversary of the kidnapping a few days ago, Amnesty International reported that 82 of them had still not been found. In many cases, kidnapped women were victims of rape or were forced to marry, and after their release, they returned home pregnant or with children.

After the kidnapping of the students, a global campaign called “Bring Back our Girls” was launched on social media, calling for the girls' release and calling on the Nigerian authorities to take action to protect women's education in the country.

Kidnapping of schoolgirls from Chibok by Boko Haram jihadists, whose goal is, among others, the fight against the Western education system, was the first in a series of mass abductions from schools that Nigeria experienced. According to data from the Save the Children charity, over 1,600 people were kidnapped between 2014 and 2022. students.

SEE ALSO: Hundreds of kidnapped students 'rescued'. They were found in the Nigerian forest