Barde held out hope for the girls’ families, telling reporters in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, yesterday that the army now knew where the girls were and that they were working hard to free them.
However, force was not an option at the moment because any such action might result in retaliation against the hostages or the possibility they could be caught in crossfire.
“We can’t go and kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back,” Barde said.
The Nigerian government, and the military in particular, has come under heavy criticism in recent weeks for its apparent inability to find the girls, who were abducted from a Government high school in Chibok north-western Nigeria during an overnight terrorist raid in April by Boko Haram, a notorious Islamic jihadist opposed to westernisation.
The school girls are believed to be subject to forced conversion to Islam and are reportedly being sold as wives to members of the extremist group for a bride price of $12.50. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathon has called Boko Haram the “Al-Qaeda of western Africa”.
Barde declined to reveal further details of the girls’ whereabouts, describing the location as a “military secret” but he added: “We are working. We will get the girls back.”
A propaganda video released by Boko Haram several weeks ago shows some girls reciting verses from the Koran in Arabic and others telling why they had converted to Islam in captivity.
Most authorities believe any aggressive action against the terrorists will provoke a violent response from a group known for murdering hundreds of Nigerian civilians in in a series of outrages.
Related: Countries help to find Nigerian girls
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