BOKO HARAM'S APPALLING WAR ON WOMEN IN THE NAME OF GOD !!

Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram has threatened to "sell" the hundreds of schoolgirls it abducted three weeks ago.

I personally find this dreadful situation and what Abubakar Shekau is reported to have said so incredibly sick and an appalling insult to the human race, to the teachings of Islam, and blatant kidnapping at its worst. The most terrible abuse of these young girls.

How can this be happening in 2014? How can the teachings in the Koran be so abused and utterly misinterpreted? Why is the world facing this outright war on women and young girls? Why hasn't the Nigerian president reacted before now without the global outrage and pressure brought to bear? These girls must be rescued and returned to their families - this war on women and their education has to stop. Why do these demented men feel that they can control and blatantly abuse 50% of the earths population? 

If the world doesn't find answers to these questions and quickly - we will be entering the worst dark age the human race has faced for centuries. I don't mean to be so negative - I have great belief in the human race and its ability to be kind, compassionate and caring - we humans have the incredible ability to heal, to build, to create, to bring much joy into everyone's lives - but so called militant groups like Boko Haram are an abomination and a like a cancer in our world. I plead to the powers that be and the publics global outrage at these kidnappings will bring these young girls home - please join me in praying for their safe return and that they are not harmed more than they are already.

The following report came from the BBC 

Militant leader Abubakar Shekau sent a video obtained by the AFP news agency, in which he said for the first time that his group had taken the girls. About 230 girls are still believed to be missing, prompting widespread criticism of the Nigerian government. The Boko Haram insurgency has left thousands dead since 2009.

The girls were taken from their boarding school in Chibok, in the northern state of Borno, on the night of 14 April.

Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden", has attacked numerous educational institutions in northern Nigeria.

'God instructed me'

In the video, Abubakar Shekau said the girls should not have been in school in the first place, but rather should get married.

"God instructed me to sell them, they are his properties and I will carry out his instructions," he said.

However, BBC Hausa Service editor Mansur Liman points out that the Boko Haram leader did not state the number of girls abducted, nor where they were taken or are now.

Assurances from President Goodluck Jonathan have done little to convince Nigerians of the government's commitment to freeing the girls, says our correspondent.

The Associated Press news agency says it is unclear whether the video was made before or after reports last week that some of the girls had been forced to marry their abductors, who paid a nominal bride price of $12 (£7).

Others are reported to have been taken across borders into Cameroon and Chad.

The girls were in their final year of school, most of them aged 16 to 18.

The BBC Hausa Service has received reports of a gun battle on the Nigeria-Cameroon border, and houses being burnt down by individuals suspected to be members of Boko Haram.