The terrifying news began to spread before the gun-wielding Islamist militants made it into Chibok last month . Villagers began to receive cell phone calls that the feared extremist group Boko Haram was on the way . No one knew what the attack would entail , that it would mean hundreds of schoolgirls plucked from their beds by a group of extremists who would later threaten to sell them . `` It 's like they were coming for a shopping trip , '' a villager who witnessed the attack told CNN . Some lucky girls managed to escape that night when , after they were loaded into cargo trucks , they made a dash for freedom . `` We would rather die than go , '' one of the girls told CNN . `` We ran into the bush . We ran and we ran . '' With fear in her eyes and voice , the young woman , who asked not to be identified , described the experience to a CNN crew that made the long , dangerous trip to her village . She said she and two friends who had also escaped saw something on fire and headed in that direction , presuming it was building in the village that had been set ablaze . Normally , Chibok is pitch black at night . Boko Haram abducted an estimated 276 girls in April from a boarding school in Chibok . Dozens escaped , but more than 200 are still missing . Villagers said they passed along warnings to local police that the terrorists were on their way that night . They said they received phone calls from family and friends from surrounding villages and were told that there was a convoy of cargo trucks , pickups and motorcycles heading their way . One villager said he was told , `` They are coming for you . Run ! '' The villagers said police called for reinforcements , but none came . Everyone , including the police , fled into the bush during the attack . But the girls were asleep in their dorms . The stories appear to confirm an Amnesty International report that the government could n't put together enough troops to head off the attack . The girl who described her escape to CNN was still shaken up by the events . When asked to describe what her kidnappers wore , she responded : `` I feel afraid . '' Her school is closed , but if it were open , she says , she would n't go back .
Villagers say they were warned that attackers were coming , but police did nothing . ` ` It 's like they were coming for a shopping trip , '' one witness tells CNN . CNN team describes difficult trip to village where girls were taken . Score: 7