Nigerian extremist leader admits to abducting girls

Heather Blockey/CORBIS

Nigerian extremist leader admits to abducting girls
(Image credit: Heather Blockey/CORBIS)

A leader of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has released a video admitting to the capture of 276 Nigerian girls last month.

In the video, Abubakar Shekau says that he abducted the girls and plans to "sell them on the market, by Allah." Boko Haram, which roughly translates to "Western education is forbidden," has attacked various targets in northern Nigeria for years, but April's kidnapping was "its biggest attack yet," Time reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Meghan DeMaria

Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.