[AnNahar] The first schoolgirl kidnapped by Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
in Chibok, northeast Nigeria
... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border...
, more than two years ago has been found, the military and activists said Wednesday, raising hopes for the release of 218 others still being held.
Amina Ali was discovered on Tuesday in the Sambisa Forest area of Borno state by civilian vigilantes assisting the military and brought back to her home town of Mbalala, near Chibok.
"She met her parents, who recognized their daughter before she was taken to the military base in Damboa," Ayuba Alamson Chibok, a community leader in Chibok, told AFP. "Her father's name is Ali and the girl's name is Amina. I know the family very well because I have worked with them, being a front man for the families of the Chibok girls."
Yakubu Nkeki, head of the Abducted Chibok Girls Parents' group, also confirmed her name and said she was 17 when she was kidnapped.
He added: "She's the daughter of my neighbor... They brought her to my house."
- Forest enclave -
The men said the teenager appeared to have given birth while in captivity while Tsambido Hosea Abana, a Chibok community leader in the capital, Abuja, from the BringBackOurGirls pressure group, said she had told family there were other kidnapped girls in the forest, but "six were already dead."
The Sambisa Forest has long been known to contain Boko Haram camps. Other kidnapped women rescued from the former game reserve over the last year have reported seeing some of the Chibok girls.
Army front man Colonel Sani Usman confirmed the girl's rescue, although he gave a different name -- Falmata Mbalala -- and said she was found by troops in Baale, near Damboa. Manaseh Allan, a Chibok youth leader, said it was not uncommon for children in the town to use different names at home and at school.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, who has said Boko Haram is "technically" defeated, has said success in the campaign would be measured on the return of the Chibok girls and other abductees.
| The Times of Israel adds: |
Amina Ali Nkeki was found wandering in the forest, uncle Yakubu Nkeki says. He says the 19-year-old -- who was 17 when kidnapped -- was brought to Chibok last night for her identity to be verified and to be reunited with her mother. Her father died while she was held captive, he says.
| News reporting is most assuredly the first draft of history. |