Eighty military personnel have been sent to Chad to help locate the nearly 300 girls kidnapped in Nigeria last month, President Barack Obama said Wednesday, according to Reuters.
President Barack Obama said in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and the Senate, notifying lawmakers about the latest steps underway to assist in the return of the abducted girls, Reuters reported.
"These personnel will support the operation of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the surrounding area," Obama said in a letter to congressional leaders, according to Reuters.
Obama said the service members will help with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the nearby region, according to Reuters. Obama also said the military force will stay in Chad, which shares their border with northeastern Nigeria, until its support is no longer necessary.
According to Lt. Col. Myles Caggins, the 80 U.S. military personnel will help expand drone searches of the region, Reuters reported. About 40 of the troops make up the launch and recovering teams for the drone being deployed there and the other 40 make up the security force for the team.
Caggins said this latest deployment will not involve ground searches by the troops, according to Reuters. The drone is a Predator and will be in addition to the unarmed Global Hawks already being used.
The surveillance aircraft have been flying over remote areas of northeast Nigeria for two weeks, and the Pentagon struck an agreement last weekend to allow it to share intelligence directly with the Nigerian government, Reuters reported.
The girls and young women, all from a school in northern Nigeria, were kidnapped last month by an Islamic extremist group known as Boko Haram, Reuters reported. Dozens escaped, but the group's leader has threatened on video to sell most of the remaining 276 schoolgirls into slavery if the government does not release detained militants.
