- The fate of 115 female students abducted by Islamic militants was thrown into uncertainty Thursday when their school principal denied the Nigerian military's report that almost all the pupils had been freed. Up till now we are still waiting and praying for the safe return of the students ... the security people, especially the vigilantes and the well-meaning volunteers of Gwoza are still out searching for them. [...] attacks undermine government and military claims that security forces are containing the Islamic militants' uprising that began five years ago in the extreme northeast of the country. Boko Haram - the nickname means "Western education is sinful" - has vowed to force an Islamic state on Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of some 170 million people divided almost equally between mainly Muslims in the north and a predominantly Christian south.