US deploys AirCraft to search through Sambisa Forest #bringbackourgirls

The US has begun deploying manned aircraft over Nigeria to hunt for the hundreds of schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram, officials have said, as authorities in the country scrambled to glean any useful information they could from a video posted by the militant group to YouTube.The footage, including a 10-minute clip purporting to show some of the missing girls praying with their heads bowed, has been reproduced under orders from the state governor of Borno, where they were abducted four weeks ago.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/nigeria-schoolgirl-kidnap-us-aircraft-join-hunt-for-girls-as-government-uses-boko-haram-video-to-try-and-confirm-captives-identities-9360038.html

Local officials have been tasked with travelling to the remote area and circulating the video among families in a bid to verify the identity of the girls involved, but governor Kashim Shettima reportedly described the development as “encouraging” as proof the captives had not been moved out of the country.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Obama administration in Washington said that the US had begun scouring the vast area of forest, described as being around three times the size of Wales, where Boko Haram were believed to be holding the girls.

The US military is flying surveillance drones as well as manned aircraft over Nigeria to help the search for more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist extremists, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

However, the data is not yet being shared with the Nigerians because Washington is still working out an agreement to govern the sharing of intelligence, Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.

The United States has deployed the Global Hawk, which flies at high altitude, and the manned MC-12, a turboprop plane heavily used in Afghanistan, for the mission, a defence official who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP.

The Pentagon had initially declined to say publicly if drones were being used.