Nigeria: military 'knows location' of kidnapped girls

(Vatican Radio) Nigerian authorities say they know where the more than 200 girls abducted by elements of the Islamic Boko Haram group are being held. The Nigerian military, however, has ruled out using force to rescue them. 

It was more than seven weeks ago, on April 15, that Boko Haram terrorists abducted more than 200 girls as the girls took secondary school exams in the remote northeastern village of Chibok. Since their abduction, little has been learned either of their whereabouts or of the military's efforts to liberate them.

Boko Haram - which means "Western education is sinful" - is opposed to teaching girls to read. Since the girls' capture, at least 470 civilians have died violently across Nigeria at the hands of the group, which is fighting to establish an Islamic state in the country.