News / Nigeria

Nigeria kills 42 Boko Haram militants, rescues 80 women, children

Thursday, 21 July 2016 3:50 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 21 July 2016 3:56 PM ]

This file photo shows Nigerien soldiers patrolling on a road between Diffa and Bosso. ©AFP

Nigeria's military has rescued at least 80 children and women in an operation against the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group in the country's troubled northeast.

Army spokesperson Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman said on Thursday that the captives were released on Tuesday by troops who attacked a gathering of the Boko Haram militants at Gangere village in Borno state.

The official added that the freed hostages included 42 children and 38 women.

Usman noted that 42 terrorists were also killed during the high-scale offensive.

This comes as military has reportedly freed as many as 10,000 hostages form the grips of the Boko Haram terrorists this year.

The Takfiri terrorist group has kidnapped a large number of civilians, including several women over the past years.

On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped 276 girls from their secondary school in the northeastern town of Chibok in Borno. Fifty-seven of the girls managed to escape afterwards, but the fate of the remaining others is still largely unknown.

That mass abduction of female students by the terrorist group has shocked people around the world and brought global attention to Boko Haram’s militancy.

Boko Haram started its campaign of militancy in 2009 with the aim of toppling the central government in Nigeria. It has so far taken the lives of more than 20,000 people and forced over 2.7 million others from their homes.

Boko Haram has expanded its terror activities to Nigeria’s neighboring countries. Troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger have been battling the terrorists in recent months.

The group has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorists operating mainly in Syria and Iraq.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk