Nigeria girls voluntarily joined Islam - Shabaab

Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabaab has reportedly praised Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamist group for its fight against those who "targeted" Islam.

This comes amid international outcry over the abduction of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants from their school last month.

According to an eNCA report, a spokesperson
claimed during an interview with an al-Shabaab controlled radio station that the kidnapped schoolgirls in Nigeria had willingly left their school to join Boko Haram and to convert to Islam.

Al-Shabaab dismissed the kidnapping claims as western propaganda.

The group maintained the girls were not abducted by Boko Haram insurgents.

The report said it is believed that Boko Haram militants have trained in Somalia and ties between the two militant groups remain strong.

Watch the story in the video above.

Meanwhile a report by The Telegraph says a former
Nigerian government mediator has lamented the fact that the integrity of Nigeria’s government was at stake as the schoolgirls remained missing.

Shehu Sani was quoted as saying Nigeria's moral standing as a nation was under scrutiny.

Boko Haram's latest video purported to show at
least 130 girls, in an undisclosed rural location, wearing Muslim dress and praying, and said they had all converted to Islam.

A special viewing of the footage was organised for the missing girls' parents.

All the girls in the video were identified to be students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, according to an AFP report.