Boko Haram released a new video on Monday 12 May claiming to show the missing Nigerian schoolgirls, alleging they had converted to Islam and would not be released until all militant prisoners were freed.
The group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, spoke on the video obtained by AFP for 17 minutes before showing what he said were about 130 of the girls, wearing the full-length hijab and praying in an undisclosed rural location.
A total of 276 girls were abducted on April 14 from the northeastern town of Chibok, in Borno state, which has a sizeable Christian community. Some 223 are still missing.
The BBC's John Simpson in the northern city of Maiduguri says Boko Haram's comments show signs that the group is willing to negotiate.
Three of the girls - wearing full-length cloaks - are shown speaking in the 17-minute video, obtained by French news agency AFP. Two girls say they were Christian and have converted to Islam, while the other says she is Muslim.
"These girls, these girls you occupy yourselves with... we have indeed liberated them. These girls have become Muslims," Abubakar Shekau says in the video.
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