Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said on Sunday international military and intelligence assistance made him optimistic about finding 200 schoolgirls abducted last month by Islamic militants in an attack condemned globally, according to the Associated Press.
Israel became the latest country to offer help to Nigeria since April 14 when militants from Boko Haram stormed a secondary school in the northeastern village of Chibok and seized 276 girls who were taking exams, the AP reported.
The abductions came hours after a massive explosion in the Nigerian capital of Abuja killed at least 75 people, just a 15-minute drive away from Jonathan's residence and office, according to the AP. Chibok government official Bana Lawal told the AP that at about 11 p.m. on April 15, he received a warning via cell phone that about 200 heavily armed militants were on their way to the town.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office gave no details of its proposed assistance but Jonathan said Netanyahu offered during a phone conversation to send a team of counter-terrorism experts, according to the AP.
The United States and Britain have flown in experts and this, coupled with the deployment by Nigeria of two army divisions to the border region, signals that the search effort is gathering pace, but it comes against a backdrop of sharp criticism of Jonathan's government for responding too slowly to the crisis, the AP reported.
"Nigeria would be pleased to have Israel's globally acknowledged anti-terrorism expertise deployed to support its ongoing operations," said a statement from State House in Abuja, according to the AP.
Jonathan is "very optimistic that with the entire international community deploying its considerable military and intelligence-gathering skills and assets in support of Nigeria's efforts ... success will soon be achieved," the statement read, the AP reported.
Outrage over the attack has focused attention on Boko Haram, a group that has destabilized parts of northeast Nigeria and killed thousands since 2009 in its fight for an Islamist state, according to the AP.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau this month threatened to sell the girls "in the market", deepening concern about their fate, the AP reported.
