Military says 338 captives have been rescued in raids on group’s Sambisa Forest stronghold, with 30 militants killed
Nigerian troops have rescued 338 captives, almost all women and children, from Boko Haram camps in a forest in the north-east of the country, the military has said.
A defence headquarters statement on Wednesday said 30 extremists were killed the previous day in raids on two camps on the fringes of the insurgents’ stronghold in Sambisa Forest
Separately, troops ambushed and killed four suspects on a bombing mission in the north-eastern Adamawa state, it said. Hundreds of people have died in suicide bombing attacks, mainly targeting mosques and markets, in recent months.
The military posted photographs of several guns and ammunition it said were seized in the attacks, along with images of the bodies of alleged insurgents.
Nigerian troops have rescued hundreds of Boko Haram captives this year, but none of the 219 girls kidnapped – more than 50 had earlier escaped – from a school in Chibok. Their mass abduction in April 2014 caused international outrage against the militants and anger at Nigeria’s government for failing to rescue them.
The kidnapping highlighted military and government failures in fighting the six-year-old uprising that has left an estimated 20,000 people dead and driven 2.3 million from their homes, according to Amnesty International and the United Nations.
The former president, Goodluck Jonathan, was replaced by the former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari in March, partly due to the inability to find the kidnapped girls and corruption scandals.
Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/28/nigeria-rescue-captives-boko-haram-sambisa-forest
