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08/20/2004:

"Us Kids 'Left' In Africa"

A mother is under investigation after her seven adopted children were found abandoned in a state orphanage in Nigeria.

The Texan had left the youngsters with a relative of her fiance before going to Iraq as a contract worker. They were found by a missionary 10 months later malnourished and suffering from malaria and typhoid.

The children, aged between seven and 16, are now back in America in the care of foster parents. The adoptive mother has been identified by authorities in America as 47-year-old Mercury Liggins.

Authorities believe she took the seven children to Nigeria in October and left them with a businessman, before returning to Houston alone.

She then went to work as a waitress in US military mess halls in Iraq before quitting in July, authorities said.

Full Article : sky.com