British special forces have joined a growing international effort to locate and rescue hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist militants in Nigeria.
SAS liaison officers, based in the capital Abuja, have switched their focus to evaluating Britain’s capacity to help the rescue, which has been dogged by claims of delays and incompetence.
They will be joined within days by a team of Whitehall experts that is being sent in direct response to the hostage crisis. The team includes a senior military officer and civil servants from the Ministry of Defence, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development.
David Cameron spoke by telephone yesterday to Goodluck Jonathan, the president of Nigeria, and condemned the kidnapping of more than 250 female students in the remote