Militants in Nigeria

In the northern Nigerian city of Chibok on April 14, militants attempted to kidnap 270 teenage girls from a school, making off with more than 200 students, who remain missing. The militants burned the school records before they left, making identification of the missing girls difficult.

Leaders of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” made threats of kidnapping women and keeping them as slaves in May 2013. In a video, Boko Haram claimed to have taken the girls and threatened to sell them. 

Boko Haram is also suspected of setting off a car bomb that killed at least 19 and injured 60 in Abuja, the capital, on May 2. On April 14 a bomb at a bus station in the same suburb killed 70. 

On May 3, the US Department of State warned that groups associated with terrorism allegedly had plans to attack a Sheraton hotel in Lagos.