DHAKA: Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram says it carried out the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in April.

About 230 girls are still believed to be missing, prompting widespread criticism of the Nigerian government.

‘I abducted your girls,’ Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video obtained by media, reports the BBC.

Meanwhile, a woman who helped organise protests over the abduction has been detained, her fellow community leaders say.

Naomi Mutah took part in a meeting on Sunday called by the president’s wife, Patience Jonathan. Shortly afterwards, she was taken to a police station.

A presidency source quoted by media said Mutah had been detained for allegedly and falsely claiming to be the mother of one of the missing girls.

But one of her fellow protesters told media Mutah was calling on the authorities to ‘bring back our daughters’ in the broader sense of ‘daughters of Nigeria’.

‘They are so clueless,’ Lawan Abana said.

The girls were abducted on 14 March from their school in Chibok, in the northern state of Borno.

BDST: 1932 HRS, MAY 05, 2014