U.S. Can't Verify Nigeria's Claims That It Found The Missing Schoolgirls

A day after Nigeria's defense chief claimed that the

country's military knew the location of more than 200 missing

schoolgirls, the State Department has noted that it has been

unable to verify that claim. In a Tuesday statement, U.S.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki indicated that the

U.S. also isn't thrilled with the Nigerian government's decision

to say this publicly, even if the claim does turn out to be true.

Here's the statement, via Reuters:

"We don't have independent information from the United

States to support these reports you referenced...We, as a

matter of policy and for the girls' safety and wellbeing, would

not discuss publicly this sort of information regardless."

The comments come in response to Monday remarks by

Nigerian Air Marshal Alex Badeh, who said that "the good

news for the parents of the girls is that we know where they

are, but we cannot tell you." He added that the government

had ruled out a forceful military response to rescue the girls,

along with the possibility of negotiations with their Boko

Haram-affiliated captors.

In addition to the State Department's statement, officials

from the U.S. and the EU cast doubt on Nigeria's claims in

interviews with Reuters. The countries were assisting

Nigeria's search with intelligence data. "The officials said

that as far as they knew, technical intelligence systems had

not produced precise or credible information establishing the

girls' location," Reuters noted.

As the Wall Street Journal reported, the military may have

been relying on sightings from hunters and herdsmen in

northeastern Nigeria, who have been reporting what they see

back to the military. But this isn't the first time an official

statement from the military has faced scrutiny, both for its

accuracy and for the wisdom of the statement itself. As the

Journal notes, one unnamed Nigerian official said it was

probably unwise to disclose the breakthrough: "It was not

strategic to say it. When you come out and say you know where

they are—they'll just move them," he said.