Nigeria abducted schoolgirls: Police reward offered

Parents have had not word about the fate of their abducted daughters

Nigeria's police have offered a $300,000 (£177,000) cash reward to anyone who can help locate and rescue more than 200 abducted schoolgirls.

They were kidnapped more than three weeks ago by armed Islamist militants from their boarding school in the north-eastern state of Borno.

Another eight girls were taken on Sunday from a village near the militants' hideout in a nearby forest.

A team of US experts has been sent to Nigeria to help in the hunt.

Earlier this week, the Boko Haram group admitted that its fighters had abducted the girls in the middle of the night from their school in the town of Chibok on 14 April.

The group, whose name means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language, has staged a wave of attacks in northern Nigeria in recent years, with an estimated 1,500 killed in the violence and subsequent security crackdown this year alone.

A statement from the police said the 50m naira reward would be given to anyone who "volunteers credible information that will lead to the location and rescue of the female students".

Six telephone numbers are provided, calling on the general public to be "part of the solution to the present security challenge".

"The police high command also reassures all citizens that any information given would be treated anonymously and with utmost confidentiality," the statement said.