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Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Several of the missing "Chibok Girls" who were abducted in Nigeria several years ago have escaped African militant group Boko Haram, some of their parents say. Emmanuel Ogebe and Lawal Zannah, members of the Chibok Parents Association, said some of the more than 100 girls still missing after the 2014 mass kidnapping have fled from their captors.
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They didn't say exactly how many had escaped from the terrorist group.
"Information currently available to us indicates that there are other escapees with the army whom parents are anxiously waiting to identify," Ogebe said.
Boko Haram raided a boarding school in Chibok, Nigeria, in 2014 and abducted nearly 300 schoolgirls. The mass abduction prompted global outrage and widespread social media campaigns condemning the kidnappings and demanding the girls' return.
Some girls escaped immediately and others were released as part of a deal with the Nigerian government in 2016. Dozens more were freed in a prisoner exchange in 2017.
Officials had estimated that about 112 of the Chibok girls were still missing.
"We heard that some of our girls have escaped from the forest, but we are yet to get the detail about their number," Zannah said.
Boko Haram has fought the Nigerian government since 2009 and has also spread into nearby Niger, Chad and Cameroon. It pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terror group in 2015.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and several commanders broke away from the group in 2016, citing ideological differences, to form their own militant faction.
