We know where the abducted Chibok girls are, but will not use force to rescue them. Nigerian military

Addressing group of protesters on Monday in Abuja, the Nigeria's Chief of Defense Staff Air Marshall Alex Badeh said the military knows where the abducted girls are but won’t use force to rescue them and should be allowed to carry out their duties as they know what they are doing.

In his words, he said:

'The good news for the parents of the girls is that we know where they are, but we cannot tell you,'

'But where they are held, can we go there with force? We can't kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back.'

Nigeria's Chief of Defense Staff Air Marshall Alex Badeh

More than 200 girls girls taking exams in a secondary school in the remote northeastern village of Chibok were abducted from their school seven weeks ago by Boko Haram, a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda.

The girls have been tracked to three camps in the north of Nigeria, near Lake Chad, 200 miles from where they were abducted

Boko Haram released a video two weeks ago showing some of the abducted girls in veils and reciting from the Qu’ran, and claimed they had converted to Islam.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau

Their leader Abubakar Shekau offered to trade the girls for the release of prisoners, which was declined by the Nigerian government.

Boko Haram's leaders had been threatening to sell the girls as brides for as little as £12, or force them to work in the sex trade if their demands were not met.

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan and his government are confronting national and international outrage at their failure to rescue the abducted girls.