Yahoo TV

This is the sound of a man, who says he is the leader of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, claiming responsibility for the kidnapping of more than 300 schoolboys in Nigeria last week.

The audio is unverified - but if authentic it would mark the first time Boko Haram has claimed an attack outside Nigeria's northeast.

The group, whose name means "Western education is forbidden," has waged an insurgency in the northeast since 2009.

More than 30,000 people have been killed since then and in 2014 the group kidnapped 200 girls from a school in the northeastern town of Chibok.

On Friday (December 11), if the voice claiming to be Abubakar Shekau is to be believed, they were also responsible for taking more than 300 boys from the Government Science school in Katsina state.

The audio offered no proof of the claim, but said the attack was carried out to discourage un-Islamic practices.

Analysts have warned that West Africa's porous borders mean other Islamist groups operating in the wider Sahel region could form alliances with jihadists in northeast Nigeria.

Meanwhile parents can only wait, and hope.

Zainab Muhammed's 13-year-old son is still missing.

"Education is what they don't want the children to have. By God's willing, they will come back alive and continue their studies at home. No more boarding school again... I will never talk to government because it has been three days now that they have been promising that our children will return home but we don't see it happening."

Spokesmen for the presidency, police, and army did not immediately respond to requests for comment but on Monday (December 14) the president's office said the government was in contact with the armed and negotiating the release of the students.