Some 200 girls and 93 women held hostage in Sambisa forest by members of the Boko Haram terrorists group have been rescued by Nigerian troops.
In its Twitter handle, the Defence Headquarters said it could not confirm if the Chibok girls abducted by the terrorists group on April 2014 were among the rescued.
“Troops captured and destroyed three terrorists’ camps, including the notorious Tokumbere Camp in the Sambisa Forest Operation,” another tweet read.
According to the tweet, the freed persons are now been profiled and details would be released later.
Defence spokesperson, Major General Chris olukolade, further confirmed the information in a phone conversation.
“When we are through with the screening, we can say categorically what their background is.
“The operation is to clear the entire forest and all the hideouts of terrorists.
“The troops have been advancing to the forest from different angles. Three camps have been cleared and in the process these children and women were rescued,” he said.
According to the military spokesman, the troops have been doing everything to either scale obstacles in the path or remove them.
He stressed that the entire mission was concentrating on the whole forest, to clear all terrorists’ camps and that it would continue.
“It is not yet over until all the identified terrorists camps in that forest are cleared. So far we have taken out only three,” the military spokesman stated.
He further clarified the involvement of foreign troops in the counter-terrorism operation, saying: “The involvement of the foreign troops is to watch their own side of the border to ensure that the terrorists do not run into their countries unnoticed”.