A truck promotes the #BringBackOurGirls hash tag used by protesters of the kidnappings in Nigeria committed by the terrorist group Boko Haram. Photo: Medina Dauda via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Israel has sent a team of intelligence experts to Nigeria to help the government find the nearly 300 schoolgirls who were abducted by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram in April.

The team, which was already dispatched last week, includes experts in hostage situations, an Israeli government official said.

“These are not operational troops, they’re there to advise,” an anonymous Israeli official told Reuters.

Israel has longstanding warm ties with several sub-Saharan African nations, including Nigeria. Last year, Israel inked a bilateral aviation deal with Nigeria during a state visit by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. Thousands of Nigerian Christians regularly make pilgrimages to Israel’s holy sites, while Israeli aid and technology experts help with development in the region.

Israel also sent a team of experts to Kenya last fall when Islamic terrorists attacked a shopping mall in Nairobi.