SUSPECTED members of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram are
believed to be holding 187 girls hostage in north-eastern Nigeria,
after kidnapping them from their boarding school in Chibok at
night.
Several girls managed to escape and get back to their families
during the kidnapping on 14 April, but most are still being held.
The Christian Association of Nigeria has called for prayer and
fasting for the girls' safe release.
On the same day, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a bomb
attack on a bus station on the edge of the capital, Abuja, that
killed 75.
Amnesty International has reported that about 1500 people were
killed in the first three months of 2014, many in attacks by Boko
Haram on villages and towns in north-eastern Nigeria.
A state of emergency was declared in three states last year, but
the violence has continued.
President Goodluck Jonathan held a security meeting last week
with governors of 36 states to seek ways of ending the Islamist
group's five-year insurgency.
"We agreed that the Boko Haram war is not a religious war, and
therefore it's a war against all Nigerians and should be treated as
such," a statement said after the meeting.