Boko Haram extremists 'agree to release 216 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls in exchange for 16 brutal terror leaders who are imprisoned by the Nigerian government

• Human rights activist says Nigerian terror group have agreed to free girls
• But they are demanding 16 senior jihadis are released by the government 
• Girls were kidnapped from a boarding school in Chibok in April 2014
• Their abduction sparked global outrage and an international campaign calling for their release
• But Boko Haram have used them as a bartering chip to free fellow militants

Extremists fighting for Boko Haram in Nigeria have offered to free more than 200 kidnapped women and girls in exchange for senior militant leaders imprisoned by the government, it has been claimed.

The offer is limited to the 219 students who were taken from a boarding school in the northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014, sparking global outrage and a campaign to 'Bring Back Our Girls'.

According to a human rights activist involved in the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity, the jihadis have agreed in principal to the release of the girls in exchange for 16 jailed members of Boko Haram - a brutal terror group affiliated with the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.