CHIBOK GIRLS: US AIRFORCE JOIN IN SEARCH

More details emerged yesterday on the United States troops deployed to join the search for the Chibok girls kidnapped by extremist Boko Haram sect.

A U.S. military spokesman said that the 80 personnel deployed in Chad to help find nearly 300 kidnapped schoolgirls are from the Air Force and have already begun their mission, using a drone and Global Hawks.

Chuck Prichard, a spokesman at the U.S. military’s Africa command in Germany, said yesterday that the 80 Air Force personnel were previously stationed in the United States, though he did not disclose where in the U.S.

President Barack Obama told Congress in a letter Wednesday about the deployment. Obama said the service members would help with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the nearby region.

A senior U.S. official said the drone is a Predator and will be in addition to the unarmed Global Hawks already being used. The new flights will be based out of Chad and allow the military to expand its search to that country. Initially the flights were largely over Nigeria.

Lt. Col. Myles Caggins said Wednesday that newly deployed forces will help expand drone searches of the region. About 40 of the troops make up the launch and recovering teams for the drone being deployed there and the other 40 make up the security force for the team.

The girls were kidnapped last month from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

The United Nations (UN) Security Council has imposed sanctions against Boko Haram.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power welcomed the council’s action, calling it “an important step in support of the government of Nigeria’s efforts to defeat Boko Haram and hold its murderous leadership accountable for atrocities.”

SOURCE: THE NATION