Since Islamic extremists kidnapped more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls three months ago, 11 of their parents have died, town residents say, according to The Associated Press.
Seven fathers of kidnapped girls were among 51 bodies brought to the Chibok hospital after an attack on the nearby village of Kautakari this month, said a health worker who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisals by the extremists, the AP reported.
At least four more parents have died of heart failure, high blood pressure and other illnesses that the community blames on trauma due to the mass abduction 100 days ago, said community leader Pogu Bitrus, who provided their names, according to the AP.
"One father of two of the girls kidnapped just went into a kind of coma and kept repeating the names of his daughters, until life left him," said Bitrus, the AP reported.
President Goodluck Jonathan met Tuesday with parents of the 219 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls and some classmates who managed to escape from Islamic extremists, according to the AP. Jonathan pledged to continue working to see the girls "are brought out alive," said his spokesman of the meeting which press were not permitted to attend.
Chibok, the town where the girls were kidnapped, is cut off because of frequent attacks on the roads that are studded with burned out vehicles, the AP reported. Commercial flights no longer go into the troubled area and the government has halted charter flights.
Boko Haram is closing in on Chibok, attacking villages ever closer to the town, according to the AP. Villagers who survive the assaults are swarming into the town, swelling its population and straining resources. and bringing a food crisis, along with shortages of money and fuel, said community leader Bitrus.
A presidential committee investigating the kidnappings said 219 girls still are missing, but the community says there are more because some parents refused to give the committee their daughters' names, fearing the stigma involved, the AP reported.