Boko Haram Show Kidnapped Chibok Girls, Present Option For Their Release [Photo]

Boko Haram released a new video on Monday claiming to show the missing schoolgirls, alleging the teenagers had converted to Islam and would not be released until all militant prisoners were freed.

The group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, speaks on the video obtained by AFP for 17 minutes before showing what he said were the girls, in Muslim dress and praying in an undisclosed rural location.

A total of 276 girls were abducted on April 14 from the northeastern town of Chibok, in Borno state, which has a sizeable Christian community. Some 223 are still missing.

The footage shows about 130 girls in black and grey full-length hijabs sitting on scrubland near trees, reciting the first chapter of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, and holding their palms upwards in prayer.

Three of the girls are interviewed. Two say they were Christian and had converted while one said she was Muslim. Most of the group were seated. The girls appeared calm and one said that they had not been harmed.

There was no indication of when the video was taken, although the quality is better than on previous occasions and at one point an armed man is seen in shot with a hand-held video camera.