Nigeria opens door for talks with kidnappers

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian government official said “all options are open” in efforts to rescue almost 300 abducted schoolgirls from their captors as U.S. reconnaissance aircraft started flying over this West African country in a search effort.

Boko Haram, the militant group that kidnapped the girls last month from a school in Borno state, released a video last Monday purporting to show some of the girls. A civic leader said representatives of the missing girls’ families were set to view the video as a group later on Tuesday to see if some of the girls can be identified.

According to a senior defense official in Washington, the U.S. is using a manned MC-12 surveillance aircraft, which is based in Niger, to conduct missions in Nigeria. In addition to the turboprop model which has seen heavy use in Afghanistan, U.S. officials are…