The United States has deployed a
drone and 80 troops to Chad to help with regional efforts to rescue more than
200 schoolgirls kidnapped in neighboring Nigeria, officials said Wednesday.
“These personnel will support the
operation of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for
missions over northern Nigeria and the surrounding area,” President Barack
Obama said in a letter to Congress.
“The force will remain in Chad until
its support in resolving the kidnapping situation is no longer required,” he
said, without mentioning the type of aircraft deployed.
A US defense official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, told AFP the troops will oversee at least one unarmed
surveillance drone to try to track those who kidnapped the Nigerian
schoolgirls.
Last month, Islamist militants from
the Boko Haram extremist group seized more than 200 Nigerian girls from school
dormitories in the northeastern community of Chibok, near border with Chad.
Nigerian and international
authorities were slow to react but, after concerned citizens launched social
media campaign and the group threatened to sell the girls into slavery, offers
of help have multiplied.
France also has forces in Chad, and
Britain and the United States have sent small teams of specialists to Nigeria
to assist President Goodluck Jonathan’s government in the search for the girls.
Washington recently began
surveillance drone flights over northeastern Nigeria to try to track down the
location of the kidnapped girls.
Meanwhile, the violence has
continued, with attacks on villages attributed to Boko Haram leaving scores dead
and a bomb attack on the Nigerian city of Jos killing at least 118 people
Tuesday.
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