One of the women rescued from the Sambisa Forest told Reuters at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Yola, Adamawa State that finding them could be difficult. Aisha Abbas, a 45-year-old mother of two, said the girls might have been sold off or married to top sect members as promised by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau. None of the women interviewed saw any of the Chibok girls, but Abbas said fighters who travelled from a camp in Sambisa where they were held to source food would describe the situation," Reuters reports. “They said the Chibok girls were married off this year. Some sold to slavery, then others (militants) each married two or four of the girls,” Mrs. Abbas continuedd. Mrs Abbas, who was taken from Dikwa, Borno State in April, speaking on the weapons situation with the militants, said the fighters all had guns at first but recently, only some carried them. Even the wife of their captors' leader, Adam Bitri, openly criticised him and subsequently fled, two of the women said, with one describing Bitri as short and fat with a beard. The militants began complaining to their captives about lacking guns and ammunition last month, two of the women said, and many were reduced to carrying sticks while some of their vehicles were either broken down or lacked fuel. “One evening in April, Boko Haram followers stood before us and said ‘Our leaders don’t want to give us enough fuel and guns and now the soldiers are encroaching on us in Sambisa. We will leave you.’” one of the women, 18-year old Binta Ibrahim from northern Adamawa State stated. “They threatened us but after they went we were happy and prayed the soldiers would come and save us.” The women said once the militants spotted two helicopters circling at noon on the day of their rescue, they began trying to sell the women for up to 2,000 naira (about $10) each. Towards evening, as the army approached, the captives refused to flee with Boko Haram fighters, who began stoning them but then ran away. “We heard bullets flying around … we lay on the floor. Some of the women were crushed (by army vehicles) and others wounded by bullets. Eighteen were killed. We counted them, they included infants,” Salamatu Mohamed from the Damboa area in Borno stated. Hanatu Musa, a 22-year old mother kidnapped in June from Gwoza in Borno State, quoted the fighters as saying their leader had deceived them into fighting and killing in the name of religion.
