Nigerian troops have freed more than 800 people held by Boko Haram militants in multiple villages in the country’s restive northeast, the Nigerian army said on Thursday.
All the hostages were rescued in Borno state, with 520 recovered in Kusumma Village on Tuesday after a confrontation with Boko Haram fighters and a further 309 from 11 other villages under the Muslim group’s control.
“The gallant troops cleared the remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists hibernating in Kala Balge general area,” army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement, adding that 22 “terrorists” were killed.
Three militants were killed and one was captured alive during the second raid on the 11 villages, he said.
Usman said items recovered included arms, axes and a motorcycle.
The military operations came on the same day that Boko Haram abducted 16 women, including two girls, in Adamawa state.
“We received report of the kidnap of 14 women and two girls by gunmen believed to be Boko Haram insurgents near Sabon Garin Madagali Village,” Adamawa state police spokesman Othman Abubakar said.
Locals said the hostages were seized in the bush while fetching firewood or fishing in a nearby river under the escort of two civilian vigilantes assisting the military against Boko Haram.
“When the civilian vigilantes escorting the women saw the heavily armed Boko Haram fighters advancing on them, they fled, leaving the women to their fate,” Madagali resident Garba Barnabas said.
Two women who escaped by jumping into the river and pretending to have drowned later returned to the village to raise the alarm, he added.
Human-rights groups have said fighters have kidnapped thousands of women and young girls, including more than 200 schoolgirls who were abducted from the Borno town of Chibok nearly two years ago.
At least 17,000 have been killed since Boko Haram launched an insurgency in 2009 in a bid to carve out an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.
More than 2.6 million people have fled their homes since the start of the violence, but some of the internally displaced have returned home after troops began a fightback last year and recaptured territory.
A regional force involving troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin is to deploy to fight the militants.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was