MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Boko Haram, an ISIL-affiliated terrorist group operating primarily in northern Nigeria, has kidnapped over 45,000 people in the country since 2012, Daily Post Nigeria reported on Wednesday, citing the Nigerian House of Representatives.
The Nigerian government announced the number during a discussion of the group's kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in the northeastern Nigerian town of Chibok. According to sources, 219 of those kidnapped remain missing. The group is said to be using the captured girls as human bombs.
The House urged the federal government to establish a control body to search for those adults and children kidnapped by Boko Haram.
Boko Haram, which translates to "western education is forbidden," began large-scale attacks in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, to establish a caliphate. In February, the group expanded its attacks to neighboring Niger, Cameroon and Chad prompting those countries to establish a Multi-National Joint Task Force.
