234 girls, women rescued, says Nigerian military

Nigeria’s military has rescued 234 more girls and women from a Boko Haram forest stronghold in the country’s northeast, an announcement on social media said on Saturday.

It brings the number of females declared rescued this week to more than 677.

“FLASH: Another set of 234 women and children were rescued through the Kawuri and Konduga end of the #Sambisa Forest on Thursday,” said a message on the official Twitter account of the Nigerian Defence Headquarters posted early on Saturday.

It comes as the army deployed ground troops following weeks of punishing air raids on the Sambisa Forest.

President Goodluck Jonathan, whose term ends this month, said Thursday that the forest is the last holdout of the Islamic militants and he pledged to “hand over a Nigeria completely free of terrorist strongholds.” 

There have been reports that some women fought the troops, with Boko Haram using them as an armed human shield for its main fighting force. It is not known how many girls, women, boys and men Boko Haram has kidnapped over its nearly 6-year-old rebellion.

The military says it is screening the girls and women to find out what villages they came from. Some women the soldiers tried to rescue even shot at their rescuers, a military spokesman has said, indicating that some might now identify with Boko Haram after months of captivity and forced marriages.