The estimated 240 or so Nigerian schoolgirls who reportedly were kidnapped by the jihadist group Boko Haram last year likely are dead, according to a spokesman for the United Nations.
A report from the National Post reveals a statement from Zeid Raad al-Hussein, a U.N. human rights official, to the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, that areas of Nigeria have been recaptured from the terrorists and that work "has brought to light gruesome scenes of mass graves and further evident signs of slaughter by Boko Haram."
The report said Zeid provided no details on the reports of the terror organization killing "their so-called wives." Those likely would be women or girls captured by Boko Haram, officials report.
But al-Hussein said such use of children as "expendable cannon fodder" would constitute a crime against humanity.
WND previously had reported that hope was growing faint for the recovery of the girls, abducted from their secondary school in Chibok, in Nigeria's north, on April 15, 2014.
During the summer of 2014, only weeks after they were taken, Cameron Thomas, Africa analyst for International Christian Concern, said his sources in Nigeria reported that some of the girls were in several camps.
But he warned that each passing day meant their chance for freedom was diminishing.
There already were reports then of child "brides" being sold by their Islamic captors for as little as $12.
"No girl or woman, neither in Nigeria nor beyond, should ever be subjected to treatment as property," said Thomas, warning Boko Haram "has made very clear its total lack of respect for women and their human rights."
According to National Post, Zeid said the "growing ethnic and sectarian" conflict in Nigeria was becoming a concern.
One online blog, Shariaunveiled, cited a Spanish language report that said al Hussein's confirmation was that women and girls taken as "wives" by Boko Haram terrorists had been killed.
The report said found in Nigeria were "macabre scenes of mass graves."
Shortly after the kidnapping in 2014, WND reported the terrorists were leaving people in the Chibok area in fear for their lives.
"In one of the villages, the local chief, upon seeing us, went into his house and came out with a gun. He wanted to shoot us. He thought we were members of Boko Haram because we came by car," said a spokesman for the Open Doors ministry who could not be identified for security reasons.
At the time, two of the schoolgirls who escaped Boko Haram talked about their ordeal.
Morningstar News reported a student named Patience leaped from the back of a Boko Haram truck, injuring her legs, and managed to drag herself under a thorn bush to hide.
The report said one of Patience's friends also jumped out of the truck and hid with her.
"We saw the gunmen pass the thorn bush where we hid ourselves, but they could not see us. We hid ourselves under the thorn bush until daybreak when my friend decided to move out to find help since I was unable to walk because of my injured legs," Patience said.
The report said the two girls were able to get home with the help of a Fulani tribesman on a bicycle.