By Kaylin Tran

Entertainment Editor

104 students who were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants from the Government Girls Science Technical College in Dapchi, a northern state in Nigeria, were released on March 21. Five girls died during captivity.

On Feb. 19, 110 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants from the Government Girls Science Technical College in Dapchi, a northern state in Nigeria.

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization that specializes in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs, the Boko Haram is a militant Islamic group that advocates for widespread belief in Sharia, or Islamic law. However, the group is infamous for mass rapes, murders, and kidnappings in northeast Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari released a statement that the Nigerian government plans to work with international organizers to negotiate the release of the schoolgirls rather than take a military approach.

In addition to those who were recently kidnapped, Buhari plans to negotiate the release of hostages from the first Boko Haram kidnapping in 2014.

Due to a disparity in witness statements about the attack, a delayed response from the government caused panic and confusion. The government officially declared the schoolgirls missing on Feb. 25, six days after the attack.

According to BBC, it was originally reported by a teacher that the militants raided the school for food and the girls ran into the bush to hide. The government followed these alleged events and initially claimed that only 40 girls were kidnapped.

After parents compiled a list of their children who were missing, the government confirmed that out of the 906 students present during the day of the attack, 110 were ushered into trucks and driven through the school gates.

Usman Mohammed, a school security guard, stated that the men surrounded the school with “vehicles painted in military colors [that had] machine guns mounted on their roofs and [began] to shoot […] We immediately knew that these weren’t soldiers” to the Guardian.

The recent kidnapping shared many similarities to the mass kidnapping four years ago. In 2014, the Boko Haram kidnapped around 276 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, which also located in northern Nigeria.

The militants forced the students into trucks, buses, and vans, and surrounded by motorcyclists to ensure that no one escaped. They then proceeded to burn houses and businesses before leaving with the hostages.

More than 100 schoolgirls are still being held captive, and much like the Dapchi children, their whereabouts remain unknown.