A mother cries out during a demonstration in Abuja with others who have daughters among the kidnapped schoolgirls. Photograph: Gbemiga Olamikan/AP
Just before midnight on 14 April in Chibok, north-east Nigeria, pastor Enoch Mark's phone rang. Half asleep, it took him a while to make sense of the voice talking rapidly down the line. Eventually four words penetrated: "Boko Haram are coming."
The caller, a friend in a neighbouring village, said a convoy of trucks and 4x4s bristling with armed insurgents was heading his way. At first, Mark did not panic. It was for such contingencies that 15 soldiers were stationed in Chibok, a remote settlement in one of three Nigerian provinces that have been living under a state of emergency since May last year. But his fear and frustration grew as repeated calls to the military post failed to connect.
He was on the sixth attempt when an explosion shattered the window panes. "My wife and I woke up the children and started running into the bush," he recalled. "As we were running, we saw that they had already started burning houses. It was a horrible sight."
The two parents and five children huddled together as they watched the flames spread to a soundtrack of gunshots. Across town, another of the family's children was less fortunate. By the time the fires subsided hours later, Mark's eldest daughter was among more than 300 teenage girls carted away from Chibok government secondary school by the extremists.
A man weeps as he joins parents of kidnapped school girls during a meeting with the Borno State governor in Chibok. Photograph: Afolabi Sotunde/ReutersThrough interviews with witnesses, schoolchildren and security officials, the Guardian has pieced together the security lapses that allowed the militants to launch a five-hour assault while encountering barely any resistance. The military says it knows where the girls are being kept, but insiders say several rescue attempts have been thwarted by tipoffs from their own numbers. The kidnapping and ensuing confusion appear to point to widespread infiltration of the military by Boko Haram supporters. Some security sources say another mass abduction is inevitable.
When the truckloads of heavily armed militants rolled into Chibok, they split into three groups of at least 25 each, witnesses said. One column headed to the local government secretariat and began firing rocket-propelled grenades at the dozen or so soldiers stationed there. Another set off into the town centre, and a third approached the school.
The Borno state governor, Kashim Shettima, centre, visits the scene of the mass abduction in Chibok. Photograph: Haruna Umar/APEarlier that day, 530 pupils had registered to sit their final exams there, according to a teacher who spoke on condition of anonymity. Some were pupils from neighbouring schools, attending the only one open for miles around after repeated attacks by Boko Haram forced mass closures. The group, whose name means "western education is forbidden", opposes non-Qur'anic education, particularly for girls.
When the gunshots began, 15-year-old Lydia Togu, an art student, was shaken awake by her elder sister Soraya, who whispered for her to get dressed quickly. The two hurried out to the courtyard where other confused and crying girls were filtering out.
"We saw five men come into the compound wearing soldiers' uniforms. We were even happy because we thought they were military men who had come to keep us safe," Lydia said, speaking softly as she recounted what followed next.
When the girls had all gathered together, the men began shooting into the air and shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), she said. They raided the school supply stores and then forced the girls at gunpoint to march for an hour into the forest, where trucks were waiting. "I thought my end had come," Lydia said.
At the same time, her father, Yakub Kabu, was in another part of the forest, where he had taken refuge with a group of people including soldiers assigned to the town. Kabu asked the soldiers who was protecting the schoolchildren.
"They told us they had a gun battle with the Boko Haram attackers but they ran out of ammunition. They were overpowered by them, there were around 100 of them who were using superior firepower and rocket-propelled grenades," Kabu said. The men had thrown their rifles into the bush and joined the fleeing crowds. There was no one to chase the militants as they herded the girls into the forest.
Just before midnight on 14 April in Chibok, north-east Nigeria, pastor Enoch Mark's phone rang. Half asleep, it took him a while to make sense of the voice talking rapidly down the line. Eventually four words penetrated: "Boko Haram are coming."
The caller, a friend in a neighbouring village, said a convoy of trucks and 4x4s bristling with armed insurgents was heading his way. At first, Mark did not panic. It was for such contingencies that 15 soldiers were stationed in Chibok, a remote settlement in one of three Nigerian provinces that have been living under a state of emergency since May last year. But his fear and frustration grew as repeated calls to the military post failed to connect.
He was on the sixth attempt when an explosion shattered the window panes. "My wife and I woke up the children and started running into the bush," he recalled. "As we were running, we saw that they had already started burning houses. It was a horrible sight."
The two parents and five children huddled together as they watched the flames spread to a soundtrack of gunshots. Across town, another of the family's children was less fortunate. By the time the fires subsided hours later, Mark's eldest daughter was among more than 300 teenage girls carted away from Chibok government secondary school by the extremists.
A man weeps as he joins parents of kidnapped school girls during a meeting with the Borno State governor in Chibok. Photograph: Afolabi Sotunde/ReutersThrough interviews with witnesses, schoolchildren and security officials, the Guardian has pieced together the security lapses that allowed the militants to launch a five-hour assault while encountering barely any resistance. The military says it knows where the girls are being kept, but insiders say several rescue attempts have been thwarted by tipoffs from their own numbers. The kidnapping and ensuing confusion appear to point to widespread infiltration of the military by Boko Haram supporters. Some security sources say another mass abduction is inevitable.
When the truckloads of heavily armed militants rolled into Chibok, they split into three groups of at least 25 each, witnesses said. One column headed to the local government secretariat and began firing rocket-propelled grenades at the dozen or so soldiers stationed there. Another set off into the town centre, and a third approached the school.
The Borno state governor, Kashim Shettima, centre, visits the scene of the mass abduction in Chibok. Photograph: Haruna Umar/APEarlier that day, 530 pupils had registered to sit their final exams there, according to a teacher who spoke on condition of anonymity. Some were pupils from neighbouring schools, attending the only one open for miles around after repeated attacks by Boko Haram forced mass closures. The group, whose name means "western education is forbidden", opposes non-Qur'anic education, particularly for girls.
When the gunshots began, 15-year-old Lydia Togu, an art student, was shaken awake by her elder sister Soraya, who whispered for her to get dressed quickly. The two hurried out to the courtyard where other confused and crying girls were filtering out.
"We saw five men come into the compound wearing soldiers' uniforms. We were even happy because we thought they were military men who had come to keep us safe," Lydia said, speaking softly as she recounted what followed next.
When the girls had all gathered together, the men began shooting into the air and shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), she said. They raided the school supply stores and then forced the girls at gunpoint to march for an hour into the forest, where trucks were waiting. "I thought my end had come," Lydia said.
At the same time, her father, Yakub Kabu, was in another part of the forest, where he had taken refuge with a group of people including soldiers assigned to the town. Kabu asked the soldiers who was protecting the schoolchildren.
"They told us they had a gun battle with the Boko Haram attackers but they ran out of ammunition. They were overpowered by them, there were around 100 of them who were using superior firepower and rocket-propelled grenades," Kabu said. The men had thrown their rifles into the bush and joined the fleeing crowds. There was no one to chase the militants as they herded the girls into the forest.