Nigerian Army Rescues Nearly 300 Girls From Boko Haram

Escaping Boko Haram

April 30. 2015

Autumn Barr

The Nigerian Army announced a successful rescue of almost 300 children and women who were kidnapped by extremists working with Boko Haram this past Tuesday in the Sambisa Forest.

Nigerian troops raided, destroyed and cleared four militant camps in the Northeastern region of the forest, which led to the rescue of 200 girls and 93 women who had been kidnapped. “but they are not the Chibok girls,” army spokesman Col. Sani Usman told The Associated Press.

The rescue, which was announced on Twitter by the army, raised hopes that the Chibok girls who have been missing for more than a year had been found.

“They were found not to be members of the Chibok girls,” said Omeri, who is part of the outgoing administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. “We are currently screening them to find out where they are from.”

“The Chibok girls” were kidnapped by Boko Haram extermists last April, and brought into the Sambisa Forest, some were able to escape but 219 have remained missing. The story of these girls brought attention from around the world to Boko Haram, and led to the campaign for their release #BringBackOurGirls.

Boko Haram has kidnapped an unidentifiable number of women and children; those who aren’t able to escape are used as sex slaves and fighters in their camps, also using them as human shields, and suicide bombers. Abubakar Shekau the leader of Boko Haram has attempted to negotiate the release of the Chibok Girls multiple times, but never with success driving Boko Haram deeper into the Sambisa Forest.
Which led the military to believe that the girls were held within the militant camps inside the forest.

“We are trying to verify if there are Chibok girls among them,” said Pogu Bitrus, Chibok Community Leader “We are working hard to verify. … All we know is this number have been rescued.”

Boko Haram’s militant group controls an area about the size of Belgium and has killed over 15,000 people since 2012, the violence is spreading to nearby countries of Chad, and Cameroon which is where military officials believe more abducted girls are hiding.