A video has emerged, reportedly from the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram, showing dozens of young boys in a forest begging for the Nigerian armed forces to stop looking for them.
Boko Haram released an audio message earlier in the week saying they were behind the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolboys in north-western Nigeria.
A website with links to the group says the latest video is of the pupils taken from Kankara school last Friday.
It’s a distressing watch.
The six-minute video features a boy in the foreground. His clothes and face are dishevelled. Dozens of children, some that appear to be very young, stand in the background, pleading.
In a mix of English and Hausa the main speaker says they were kidnapped by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau’s gang.
He says some of the boys have been killed by fighter jets and calls for schools to be closed, excluding Koranic schools.
He adds that all the troops who have been sent to help them, should be sent back.
At one point his voice appears to break and the other children begin to cry.
The attack is first of its kind in north-western Nigeria. The authorities say it was carried out by local gangs connected to Boko Haram.
