The women and children abducted by suspected Boko Haram militants have been freed, Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade said on Friday.He said they were freed by soldiers deployed for special operations in the three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
It would be recalled that leader of the Boko Haram sect – Sheik Abubakar Shekau, was seen in a video on May 13, 2013, claiming that some women and children were held captive by his group in retaliation for the arrest of the wives and children of their members by security operatives.
“If they do not leave our wives and children, we will not leave them,” Shekau reportedly said.
However, Olukolade said the Special Forces stormed one of the camps located within the Sambisa Forest Reserve, where the women and children were being held and rescued nine of them – three women and six children.
Narrating how the women were abducted from a police formation during the attack on some security establishments in Bama, Borno State, on May 7, 2013, the Defence Headquarters image maker said:
“Troops of the special operations have rescued three women and six children after overrunning three terrorists’ camps in the notorious Sambisa Forest of Central Borno in the ongoing onslaught against terrorists.
“The women and children, who were kidnapped from police barracks and environs during the May 7 attack on Bama, had been held in the camp since their abduction and were featured in the video by Abubakar Shekau recently.
“Troops combing the forest are, however, yet to locate one other woman and her two children,” he said.
