ABUJA, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian military on Thursday debunked claims that its troops had rescued some of the missing schoolgirls in the northeastern state of Yobe following a suspected attack by terror group Boko Haram earlier this week.
"We cannot confirm the statement," defense spokesman John Agim told local online newspaper Premium Times while reacting to media reports that the missing girls had been in the custody of the army since Wednesday night.
Agim declined to speak further on the military's intervention in the matter.
So far, there have been very conflicting accounts of Monday's attack on the Government Girls' Technical College in Dapchi area of Yobe.
Yobe's governor Ibrahim Gaidam on Thursday confirmed none of the schoolgirls declared missing after a headcount of the students was rescued by the military.
Visiting the college for the first time since the attack late Monday, Gaidam told families of the missing schoolgirls to "keep praying that the girls should be found."
According to officials, at least 46 students are still unaccounted for. Other reports put the figure at 13.
Over 94 students were missing at first. But the state government said 28 returned late Tuesday and 20 more came back early Wednesday.
Police and few local officials said there was no evidence that the girls had been abducted but the Yobe government suspected that some of the students are in Boko Haram's captivity.
A local teacher said as Boko Haram outlaws went into students' dormitories, many of the girls jumped over the fence and escaped into the bushes.
Some of the girls who had returned told the school authorities that they were rescued by villagers from the bushes.
About four years ago, 276 girls were abducted by the Boko Haram from the Girls' Secondary School in Chibok town in Yobe's neighboring Borno State. Only 107 of the Chibok girls have been rescued or returned amid ongoing government negotiation with Boko Haram.
The outlawed group has been trying since 2009 to establish an Islamic state in northeastern Nigeria. They have killed some 20,000 people and displaced millions.
