French agents sent to Nigeria to help find kidnapped girls: Hollande

French President Francois Hollande announced on Wednesday a dispatch of security agents to Nigeria to help find abducted schoolgirls and crack down the Islamist group Boko Haram after seizing more than 234 girls last month.

During a phone conversation with his Nigerian counterpart Goodluck Jonathan, Hollande said to send specialized team to the African country "in the coming hours," joining U.S. and British agents to help local authorities to find more than 234 girls seized by the radical cell last month.

"The president expressed his desire to increase intelligence cooperation with Nigeria, involving all regional countries, so that this terrorist group can no longer carry out such acts," Hollande's office, the Elysee said.

At least eight more girls were kidnapped in northeast Nigeria's Borno state on Tuesday, a day after Boko Haram claimed responsibility for last month's abduction of hundreds of teenage schoolgirls in the same region.

In a video released on Monday, the group threatened to sell the girls "on the market."

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is currently grappling with security challenges, one of which is the insurgency of the extremist group Boko Haram.