One of Nigeria's Missing Girls Is Found

'Traumatized' young woman either escaped or was released
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 26, 2014 6:38 AM CDT
One of Nigeria's Missing Girls Is Found
People rally in support of the missing girls during a demonstration in Abuja, Nigeria, on Sept. 11, 2014.   (AP Photo/Olamikan Gbemiga)

Though talks are underway with Boko Haram militants to secure the release of more than 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls, one may have escaped on her own. A woman, identified as one of those kidnapped by the al-Qaeda-linked group in April, was found "heavily traumatized and not very stable" Wednesday, wandering through a small village in northeastern Nigeria, NBC News and the Guardian report. She was found about 60 miles from where the girls were taken and 75 miles from the nearest Boko Haram cell, Reuters reports. Residents say the 20-year-old, the first of the missing schoolgirls to be recovered in months, may have escaped her captors. Local officials say it's also possible she was released.

"She had been running around the bush for about four days before she reached here," a local farmer says. Officials say she is receiving medical treatment and is in "stable" condition, though a man who visited the woman says she hasn't been able to explain how she became free. A father whose two daughters remain Boko Haram captives says the woman has now been moved to the city of Yola. "We are all happy that one of our girls has escaped," another father says. "But it is difficult seeing the state the girl was in, and to think about what is happening to the others." Boko Haram has released the names of 19 militants it wants released in return for the girls, the Telegraph reports. (More Boko Haram stories.)

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