US sends 80 troops to Chad to aid in search for abducted girls
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The Obama administration has deployed 80 military personnel to Chad to help locate the nearly 300 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria by Islamist militants Boko Haram.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Myles Caggins said the team will mostly be made up of Air Force personnel responsible for operating unmanned, unarmed drones. The drones will be flying out of an airstrip in Chad — which shares a portion of its western border with northeastern Nigeria — with a mission to search for the girls in Nigeria.
Other U.S. servicemembers will be assigned to act as an armed security force tasked with protecting the team. The team was scheduled to arrive Wednesday.
Obama formalized the decision with a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and the Senate notifying lawmakers about the steps underway to assist in the return of the abducted girls.
Obama said the servicemembers will help with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria.
He said the force will stay in Chad until its support is no longer necessary.
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