U.S. says cannot corroborate Nigerian claim it has located girls.

WASHINGTONTue May 27, 2014 3:23pm EDT

Chiroma Maina (R) holds a picture of her abducted daughter Comfort Amos, next to her husband Jonah and her daughter Helen, at their home in Maiduguri May 21, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Joe Penney

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it did not have independent information to confirm Nigeria's claim to know the whereabouts of more than 200 kidnapped girls and questioned the wisdom of making public such information.

"We don't have independent information from the United States to support these reports you referenced," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said when asked about Nigerian Chief of Defense Staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh's statement that the military knew where the abducted girls were.

"We, as a matter of policy and for the girls' safety and wellbeing, would not discuss publicly this sort of information regardless."

(Reporting By Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Chris Reese)

Comments (1)

The Nigerian government/military will say whatever they need to to stave off the obvious–they are incompetent.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/27/us-nigeria-girls-usa-idUSKBN0E72DX20140527