President Obama spoke out against the horrific kidnapping of 276 girls in Nigeria yesterday (May 6) calling it both “heartbreaking” and “outrageous.” Twenty-two days has passed since the girls have been abducted by an extreme Islam militant group Boko Haram that translates to “western education is sinful.”

“You’ve got one of the worst regional or local terrorist organizations in Boko Haram in Nigeria, they’ve been killing people ruthlessly for many years now and we’ve already been seeking greater cooperation with the Nigerians – this may be the event that helps to mobilize the entire international community to finally do something against this horrendous organization that’s perpetrated such a terrible crime,” the president told ABC News’ Ginger Zee.

Garnering international attention, the president’s comments follow the Senate’s condemnation of the kidnapping and immediate call for action.

“This is an outrage, an outrage against these girls and an outrage in the international community and we need to speak up as a nation, women and men together saying what is this, where a girl can’t go to school simply because she’s a girl?” Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. said on the Senate floor.

“We’ve already sent in a team to Nigeria – they’ve accepted our help through a combination of military, law enforcement, and other agencies who are going in, trying to identify where in fact these girls might be and provide them help,” Obama said.

With the combined efforts of the Nigerian government and special teams sent in there is a hope to reclaim the kidnapped girls and return them home.