Nigerian military: 234 girls, women rescued from Boko Haram

Doug Stanglin | USA TODAY

Nigeria's military has rescued 234 more women and children from a forested area of northeasternNigeria controlled by Boko Haram extremists who have kidnapped hundreds of girls in recent years, the Nigerian defense ministry said Saturday.

The latest rescue, announced by the Nigeria Defense Headquarters on Twitter, brings the total for the week to more than 677 females the Nigerian military claims to have rescued.

"FLASH: Another set of 234 women and children were rescued through the Kawuri and Konduga end of the #Sambisa Forest on Thursday," said a message on the official Twitter account of the Nigerian Defense Headquarters posted early Saturday.

The defense headquarters said at midweek that 200 girls and 93 women had been rescued from the Sambisa Forest, where Boko Haram is based in northeastern Nigeria, and that Nigerian troops captured and destroyed three terrorist camps.

It said those rescued were being "screened and profiled."

Muhammad Gavi, a spokesman for a self-defense group that fights Boko Haram, said some of the hundreds of women and girls who were freed are pregnant, citing information he got from some group members who have seen the females.

There has been no announcement yet on whether any of those rescued are the students who were kidnapped from the Chibok school a year ago, a mass kidnapping that outraged much of the world.

The latest rescue claim comes as the army has deployed ground troops following weeks of punishing air raids on the Sambisa Forest.

Boko Haram began its insurgency in 2009 in an attempt to create an Islamic state.

President Goodluck Jonathan, whose term ends this month, said Thursday that the forest is the last holdout of the Islamist militants and he pledged to "hand over a Nigeria completely free of terrorist strongholds."

It is not known how many girls, women, boys and men Boko Haram has kidnapped over its nearly six-year rebellion.

There have been reports that some women fought the troops, with Boko Haram using them as an armed human shield for its main fighting force.

Some women the soldiers tried to rescue even shot at their rescuers, a military spokesman has said, indicating that some might now identify with Boko Haram after months of captivity and forced marriages. It also remains unclear whether some of the women had willingly joined Boko Haram, or are family members of fighters.

The Nigerian military Friday released photos of some of the girls and women they said were taken between Tuesday and Thursday in the Sambisa Forest. The photos show 20 or so women, children and babies looking generally healthy physically.

But at least one child looks emaciated and some of the children have the orange-colored hair signaling severe malnutrition.

Some photos were taken in an open courtyard with a high wall and leafy trees beyond. A military man in a flight suit, an assault rifle held by his side, stands among them. A young military medic with blue rubber gloves and a surgical mask dangling from his ears appears to be checking several of the children.

Contributing: The Associated Press