Nearly 200 Schoolgirls Are Still Being Held Captive And Abused By Militants In Nigeria

Earlier this month, late at night, insurgents captured more than 200 teenage girls from a school in northern Nigeria, an area of the country that has been infiltrated by the terror group Boko Haram.

The group targets schools, mosques, churches, villages, agricultural centers, and military bases. Its aim is to stop Westernization and create an Islamic state ruled by sharia law, a strict religious code of living.

Nigeria's population is about half Muslim and half Christian. The extremists believe that northern Nigeria has been taken over by "false Muslims".

About 187 of the schoolgirls, who went to a secular school, are still missing, and 43 managed to escape. The girls were reportedly in the school for a physics exam when the Boko Haram attackers struck.

The girls are likely being used as sex slaves and cooks in a nearby forest, a hideout for the militants, according to local officialss.

Because so many girls were kidnapped, it'll be very difficult to recover them. Air strikes and ground attacks from Nigerian forces could end up killing the innocent students, according to CNN. Boko Haram could have also taken them into neighboring countries Chad or Niger.

Boko Haram means "Western education is sinful." The anti-West Islamist group is opposed to educating women because its version of sharia law calls for them to be in the home raising children and caring for their husbands, according to CNN. The group has been kidnapping girls as "retaliation" against Nigerian security forces who reportedly stole the wives and children of Boko Haram members.

Women who have been kidnapped by Boko Haram previously have been found in forest hideouts pregnant and married to their captors, CNN reports. Some of them had also been forcibly converted to Islam.

The below map shows where the girls who were taken from the school are reportedly being held. The Sambisa Forest is relatively close to the school in Chibok, the town marked by the smaller circle, and the insurgents likely herded the girls into vehicles to transport them:

Boko Haram has been terrorizing Nigeria for about a decade.

In addition to kidnappings, Boko Haram insurgents carry out bombings and shootings.

CNN spoke with a young man who was injured in a Boko Haram bombing. His father was killed years prior in a shooting attack. He said

Watch the interview here: