Nigerian hunters seek girls kidnapped by Boko Haram
The U.N. Security Council added Boko Haram to its list of terrorists on Thursday and it imposed economic sanctions.
Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria last month. The United States has sent drone aircraft to help the search.
While the United States searches from above, local hunters are searching on the ground in Nigeria.
Before each hunt, the men prepare with a traditional dance. But this time the hunters' prey are fighters from Boko Haram.
Armed with only homemade guns, spears and knives, the hunters say they are Nigeria's best hope to rescue the kidnapped schoolgirls.
"We know the terrain, we know the bushes," Adamsi Tir said. "The soldiers that have been brought here have never been here before."
The girls may be hidden in the sprawling Sambisa forest.
But this is what the hunters will be up against: Abubaker Shekau has led Boko Haram in an increasingly violent and brazen terror campaign for five years.
Zanna Mustafa is a lawyer from the North, who knows Shekau well,and said he was a charismatic leader.
"He has 100 percent control of his men," Mustafa said. "If he says 'Stop it now,' all these things would stop."
He told us Shekau was always preaching -- and he's willing to do anything to see Nigeria become an Islamic state.
"He wants to die on this cause he is carrying," Mustafa said. "Good, not good, that's left for him. But he wants to die on this cause."
Emboldened by the kidnapping, Shekau launched more attacks this week, killing at least 46 people in two villages.
Officially Nigeria does not negotiate with terrorists but our sources say that secret talks continue between the government and Boko Haram to secure the girls' release. However the ongoing violence shows little in the way of good faith from Boko Haram and is only likely to put pressure on the Nigeria government to take tougher action.
