US Sending Team to Nigeria to Help Find Kidnapped Girls

Today began with one of the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls telling of her escape from Boko Haram, quickly followed by the kidnapping of eight more schoolgirls in the country's northeast, and is now met with the news that the United States is sending in a response team to assist Nigeria. The State Department confirmed today that the US embassy in Nigeria is "prepared to form a coordination cell," reports Reuters, which would consist of military and law enforcement investigators. Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan "welcomed Secretary Kerry's offer," says a State Department spokeswoman, and the White House has directed that State "do everything we can to help the Nigerian government find and free these young women." (More Nigeria stories.)