CHIBOK, Nigeria — The leader of a notorious Islamic terrorist group has threatened to sell over 200 kidnapped girls into slavery at the command of Allah, reports state.
“I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah,” Abubaker Shekau of the African militant group Boko Haram stated in a video released on Monday. “There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. … They are his property and I will carry out his instructions.”
Boko Haram had stormed an all-girls secondary school in Chibok, Borno State last month, kidnapping 276 students while they were taking their final exams. Over 50 girls later escaped, but more than 200 remain missing.
“They … started shouting, ‘Allahu Akhbar,'” one of the abducted teens told the Associated Press. “And we knew.”
She stated that she and others escaped by jumping out of one of the vehicles carrying the students.
“We ran and ran, so fast,” the girl explained. “That is how I saved myself. I had no time to be scared; I was just running.”
Boko Haram, being translated, means “western education is sinful.” Shekau reiterated the group’s opposition to the West during his video statement.
“Western education should end,” he declared. “Girl, you should go and get married.”
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has vowed to free the girls and return them to their families, but also notes that the whereabouts of the teen girls are unknown.
“It is to be expected of terrorists,” spokesperson Doyin Okupe told CNN. “No group can affect our resolve. We will see this through to the end. We have the commitment and capacity to get this done. No matter what this takes, we will get these girls.”
In the meantime, reports surfaced on Tuesday that 11 more girls had been kidnapped in the Northeastern region of Nigeria.
Boko Haram has been in the headlines for the past five years surrounding its responsibility for numerous violent acts throughout Nigeria that have resulted in an estimated 10,000 deaths. According to reports, the group seeks to implement Sharia law in the nation, and is especially hostile toward Christians.
As previously reported, 19-year-old Hajja told Reuters in December that she was held by Boko Haram and told to renounce Christianity or perish. Members of Boko Haram threatened to slit her throat if she did not give up her faith in Christ.
“They told me I must become a Muslim, but I refused again and again,” Hajja said. “They were about to slaughter me, and one of them begged me not to resist and just before I had my throat slit, I relented. They put a veil on me and made me read from the Koran.”
Boko Haram made Hajja a domestic slave. She was forced to clean and prepare meals for the terrorist militia, but later escaped from her captors.
“They want to ‘Islamitize’ Nigeria. That is why they are targeting Christians,” stated Habila Adamu, who was shot in the head after he likewise refused to deny Christ, but miraculously survived. “They wanted me to deny Jesus. We are sinners! We are condemned criminals. We are supposed to die! But He took all these burdens! He paid for our debt! He died for us! Why can I not submit to Jesus? That is what I did. I stood for him!”
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