Nigerian Army Rescues Nearly 300 from Boko Haram Stronghold

Local Editor

The Nigerian military said it had rescued 200 girls and 93 women from an area where the Takfiri militant group Boko Haram was active.

However, it said the girls abducted from a school in Chibok in April 2014 were not among them.

The military said the girls and women were freed during major operations ending in the seizure of four Boko Haram camps in the Sambisa Forest.

A military spokesman said they were now being interviewed and that weapons were also seized at the camps taken in the latest operation.

In recent months Nigerian security forces had taken back most of the territory previously under the control of Boko Haram.

Furthermore, Gen Chris Olukolade said the hostages were freed as part of a major, ongoing operation.

He said accurate intelligence had helped the military locate the camps, which had been attacked from all directions by ground and air forces.

Nonetheless, last October, the government said it had secured an agreement for a ceasefire and the release of the girls taken from Chibok, but Boko Haram subsequently denied this.

The abduction of the girls in Chibok sparked global outrage with many joining a campaign online to free them. Several nations vowed to help find them and there have been reported sightings of the girls, but none had been found to date.

Meanwhile, the government of neighboring Niger gave more details about fighting between its troops and Boko Haram on an island in Lake Chad over the weekend.

It said 28 civilians died when Boko Haram attacked Karamga island and that 46 of its troops died in the battle for the island, along with more than 150 militants. Reports in local media had given a much higher death toll for government forces.

Accordingly, Boko Haram's insurgency and the army campaign against it had killed more than 15,500 people since 2012. The violence had recently spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team