Army rescues 386 captives after 10 years in Sambisa forest

The Nigerian Army says its operatives have rescued about 386 persons from Sambisa forest.

The rescued victims were said to be mostly women and children, most of whom were abducted 10 years ago.

AGL Haruna, the acting general officer commanding, 7 division, made this known on Sunday while briefing journalists in Konduga LGA, Borno state.

Haruna was in the LGA to welcome troops who were returning from a 10-day ‘Operation Desert Sanity 111’.

He said the objective of the operation was to evict remnants of terrorists from Sambisa forest and give those willing to surrender the opportunity to do so.

“Our effort is to ensure that we clear remnants of terrorists in the Sambisa and give those willing to surrender the opportunity to surrender,” Haruna said.

“With this operation, we envisage many of them will surrender as they have started.

“We also rescued some civilians; as of yesterday, we rescued 386 and I am sure the number will increase by today.”

Haruna commended the operatives for their level of professionalism during the operation while urging them to sustain the tempo.

CHIBOK GIRLS ABDUCTION

On April 14, 2014, about 276 girls were abducted from their school dormitory in Chibok, Borno state.

Over 107 of the abducted schoolgirls have either been rescued or released.

Some managed to escape while several were rescued by troops during clearance operations, with the most recent coming in April 2024.

At least 90 of the Chibok girls are still believed to be in captivity.

It is not immediately clear if some of the missing Chibok girls are among those recently rescued from Sambisa forest.