The Nigerian government has said it is in contact with Boko Haram after the armed group released a new video purporting to show the schoolgirls it kidnapped more than two years ago, and offering to trade the captives in return for the release of its jailed fighters.
Boko Haram released the video on Sunday showing dozens of the 276 students they seized from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on the night of April 14, 2014. Fifty-seven managed to escape in the immediate aftermath of the mass abduction.
"They should know that their children are still in our hands," a Boko Haram fighter, holding an assault rifle and his head covered by a turban, says in the video, which was posted on YouTube.
The masked fighter delivers his demands standing in front of dozens of young women.
"The Nigerian government has issued a statement saying they are on top of the situation. What they mean by that is they are in touch with people purported to be behind that video," said Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris, reporting from Lagos.
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