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| Africa Subsaharan | |
| Nigerian Army Rescues 200 Girls, 93 Women | |
| 2015-04-29 | |
| [TheAge.au] Nigeria's military is claiming the rescue of 200 girls and 93 women from a notorious Boko Haram stronghold, but the hostages are not those kidnapped from Chibok a year ago. "Troops have captured & destroyed three camps of terrorists inside the Sambisa forest & rescued 200 girls & 93 women," defence spokesman Chris Olukolade said in a text message, referring to the area in northeast Borno state where the Islamists have bases. Following news of the rescue, Colonel Sani Usman sought to clarify that the rescued hostages were not the same group of girls whose plight unchained the #BringBackOurGirls global campaign. "They were not, however, from Chibok, the village from which more than 200 girls were abducted in April 2014," he told Reuters in a text message. Boko Haram claimed the abduction of 276 girls from a secondary school in Chibok, also in Borno, on April 14 last year. Fifty-seven girls escaped within hours of the attack but 219 remained in captivity. At the anniversary of their abduction, Nigeria's president-elect Muhammadu Buhari admitted it may never be possible to find the group. In the weeks following the mass abduction, Nigerian security sources and locals in Borno said there were indications the girls had been taken to the Sambisa Forest. But defence officials and experts agreed that they were likely separated over the last 13 months, casting significant doubt on the possibility that they were being held together as a group. Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, vowed to "marry them off" or sell them as "slaves." The Chibok attack brought unprecedented world attention to the Nigeria's Islamist uprising. Celebrities and prominent personalities including US First Lady Michelle Obama joined the Twitter campaign #BringBackOurGirls that attracted supporters worldwide. Pakistani activist and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai voiced a heartfelt letter to the missing girls earlier this month. But Boko Haram has also been blamed for hundreds of other kidnappings, especially targeting women and girls across northeast Nigeria. There is no indication of when the freed hostages were first taken. The rescued girls and women will be screened on Wednesday to determine whether they had been abducted or if they were married to the militants, one intelligence source told Reuters. "Now they are excited about their freedom," he said. "Tomorrow there will be screenings to determine whether they are Boko Haram wives, whether they are from Chibok, how long they have been in the camps, and if they have children." Some of the girls were injured, and some of the militants killed, he said without giving more details. The group was rescued from camps "discovered near or on the way to Sambisa," one army official said. Nigerian forces backed by warplanes invaded the vast former colonial game reserve late last week as part of a push to win back territory from Boko Haram. The group, notorious for violence against civilians, controlled an area roughly the size of Belgium at the start of the year but has since been beaten back by Nigerian troops, backed by Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
A military source who was in Sambisa told The Associated Press that some of the women rescued Tuesday fought back, and that Boko Haram was using armed women as human shields, putting them as their first line of defense. The Nigerian troops managed to subdue them and rounded them all up, and some said they were forced to fight for Boko Haram, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Boko Haram also has used girls and women as suicide bombers, sending them into crowded market places and elsewhere. | |
| Posted by:Grunter |
| #2 Actually practicing hostage rescue on the FIFO model |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2015-04-29 20:21 |
| #1 "They were not, however, from Chibok, the village from which more than 200 girls were abducted in April 2014" Looks like Michelle will be holding that "damn hashtag" sign a little while longer. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2015-04-29 12:48 |