Another group of women and children, kidnapped by Boko Haram extremists, were rescued by the Nigerian military in an operation carried out in Sambisa forest where the militant group has been holed up, an army spokesperson said Thursday.
The new rescue of about 160 women and children comes days after the army celebrated the release of close to 300 girls and women from the same forest in the northeastern state of Borno, where the Nigerian military is waging a fight to end the six-year Boko Haram insurgency.
None of the girls rescued belong to the group of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped over a year ago while in classes in Chibok, in an action that drew international condemnation.
However, Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sinful,” has abducted at least 2,000 women and girls from their families since early 2014, a fact that Western media has widely ignored.
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Regarding the rescue of the 163 women and children, army spokesperson Col. San Usman said, "They have been evacuated to a safety zone for further processing."
According to various international human rights organizations, Boko Haram uses the people they kidnap as sex slaves or as human shields against military attacks.
The insurgency is the greatest security threat to Africa's largest economy and leading oil producer is facing today.
According to the Nigerian government, its army has regained control of swathes of the country's remote northern territory in the last two months with the help from troops from neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
The people of Nigeria have their hopes set on president-elect Muhammadu Buhari, a former army general, to quash the rebellion, which his predecessor Goodluck Jonathan failed to confront.
An AP report states that some of the females rescued earlier in the week had been so transformed while in captivity that when the Nigerian troops approached them they opened fire on them. And it added that a veteran counselor said Wednesday they would require intensive psychological treatment.
The U.S. news agency added that during the rescue operations various Boko Haram commanders and fighers were killed, while combat tanks and high-caliber munitions were seized.