Washington, May 13 (IANS): A total of 16 military personnel from US Africa Command have joined the effort to help find hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists, a Pentagon spokesperson said Monday.
The personnel, including experts in communications, logistics, civil affairs, operations and intelligence, are among members of an interdisciplinary team led by the State Department at the US embassy in Abuja, Xinhua reported.
"Their role is to assess the situation, advise and assist the Nigerian government in their efforts to respond to this crisis situation, and find the young women kidnapped by Boko Haram," Xinhua quoted spokesperson Steve Warren as saying at a press conference.
Members of the militant group Boko Haram abducted more than 200 girls from the Government Secondary boarding school in the town of Chibok, several hundred km east of Abuja, on the night of April 14.