Alleged Boko Haram Member talks to CBS News, Warns of Another Mass Kidnapping

In a rare interview published this morning on CBSNews.com, an alleged
Boko Haram member spoke to correspondent and CBS News contributor
Debora Patta and he revealed that the group is planning another mass
kidnapping.

He calls himself Saleh Abubakar and though he had been reluctant to
talk to CBS News, Saleh reportedly told CBS that he's been a member of
Boko Haram for seven years.

"We go to their school and attack some of soldiers and policemen," he
said.But when asked why his group decided to target schoolgirls,
Abubakar abruptly ended the interview,
asking for a safer, indoor location. He told CBS News he'd seen the
girls three weeks ago, and they were being well cared for.

"Some of them will complain of headache; we have medicine," he said,
when asked if any of the girls were sick. We have everything in the
place where we keep them."

Asked if any had been sold into marriage, he replied, "We do not marry them."

He said the girls had converted to Islam -- willingly, he claimed. As
a result, they'd been spared being sold into slavery, as the group's
leader had threatened.

"We didn't make them convert to Islam by force, just by preaching, you
understand," he said.When pressed on whether abducting the girls and
forcing them to convert to Islam is the same as forcing them, he said,
"As I tell you, we are not forcing anyone to accept Islam. We are just
preaching to them."

He said the girls would be held captive until the Nigerian government
released Boko Haram fighters from prison.

"If Allah wish, nothing will happen to them," he said. "But we ask the
government if they don't release our brothers, we are not going to
release them."Asked whether the girls will be killed if the government
does not release the prisoners, he replied:

"I will not tell you what we are going to do."Abubakar also told CBS
News the abductions had been planned for three months before they
happened, and he warned that Boko Haram intends to kidnap more
schoolgirls. The group draws its inspiration from al Qaeda, and he
claims they have networks around the world, including in America.