ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) – Nigerian troops have rescued 338 captives, almost all children and women, from Boko Haram camps in a northeastern forest, the military said Wednesday.
Thirty extremists were killed Tuesday in attacks on two camps on the fringes of the Islamic insurgents’ holdout in Sambisa Forest, according to a Defense Headquarters statement on social media.
Separately troops ambushed and killed four suspects on a bombing mission in northeastern Adamawa state, it said. Hundreds of people have died in suicide bombing attacks mainly targeting mosques and markets in recent months.
The military posted photographs of several guns and ammunition it said were seized in the attacks, along with images of bodies of alleged insurgents.
Nigerian troops have rescued hundreds of Boko Haram captives this year but none of the 219 girls kidnapped from a school in Chibok town. Their mass abduction in April 2014 sparked international outrage against the extremists and Nigeria’s government for failing to rescue them. It highlighted military and government failures in fighting the 6-year-old Islamic uprising that has killed an estimated 20,000 people and driven 2.3 million from their homes, according to Amnesty International and the United Nations.