Islamist militants Boko Haram have released a video apparently showing about 130 girls kidnapped from a school in northern Nigeria on 14 April.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said the children would be held until all imprisoned militants had been freed.
Interior Minister Abba Moro rejected the deal, telling the BBC that it was "absurd" for a "terrorist group" to try to set conditions.
Boko Haram abducted more than 200 girls and threatened to sell them
The BBC's John Simpson in the northern city of Maiduguri says Boko Haram's comments show signs that the group is willing to negotiate.
Three of the girls - wearing full-length cloaks - are shown speaking in the 27-minute video, obtained by French news agency AFP.
Two girls say they were Christian and have converted to Islam, while the other says she is Muslim.
"These girls, these girls you occupy yourselves with... we have indeed liberated them. These girls have become Muslims," Abubakar Shekau says in the video.
It is thought the majority of the abducted girls are Christians, although there are a number of Muslims among them.
Correspondents said the girls appeared calm and one said that they had not been harmed.
There is no indication of when or where the video was taken, although the location appears to be rural.
No comments:
Post a Comment