Boko Haram leader says he will sell kidnapped Nigeria schoolgirls

The leader of Boko Haram, the militant group that abducted over 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria three weeks ago, has claimed responsibility for their abduction and has threatened to sell the girls.

The abduction has now sparked international outrage, as it finally gets international attention. Leaders in Nigeria have pleaded for international help, as citizens protest government inaction. Over 250 girls were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, but 53 managed to escape. Still, Boko Haram is holding 223 girls, state police said.

On Monday, the AFP obtained a 57-minute video, in which the leader of the Islamist militant group, Abubakar Shekau, says, “I abducted your girls.”

Shekau speaks in the local Hausa language, Arabic and English throughout the video, which is blurry at times. For the first part, he criticizes Western education and culture.

“I will repeat this: Western education should fold up. I abducted your girls,” he says at one point. “I will sell them in the market, by Allah.” He then refers to the girls as “slaves.” He adds, “I will marry off a woman at the age of 12. I will marry off a girl at the age of nine.”

According to the BBC, Shekau did not say where the girls were being held and did not give the exact number of girls that his group is holding.

There have been unconfirmed reports from the region that the girls have been taken across the border to neighboring countries and sold as brides for $12.

CNN reports that U.S. President Barack Obama has been briefed on the situation. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the U.S. “will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice.”

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