Emergency: Soldiers rescue nine women, children held hostage by Boko Haram

[TheNation]

Freedom came yesterday for six children and three women held as ransom by the Boko Haram Islamist sect in Bama, Borno State.

The captives were rescued by Federal troops who overran three camps of the sect in Sambisa forest, a stretch of 16-kilometre uncultivated mass of trees and shrubs in central Borno, the Defence Headquarters announced yesterday.

Three other captives–a woman and her two children– were, however, missing. The authorities said a search was on to locate them.

The captives were all seized at the Bama Police Station by the insurgents when they invaded the town on May 7.

No fewer than 50 people were killed during the invasion.

Several houses were also set ablaze by the sect's members who also attacked the prison in the town and set about 100 inmates free.

The Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Chris Olubolade, told journalists in Abuja that the women and children were rescued by the Special Forces.

He showed reporters a video recording and photographs of the freed hostages.

The abducted women and children were shown in a recent You Tube video by the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau.

Olukolade was silent on Shekau's whereabouts.

He said the harsh conditions of the forest must have taken a toll on the yet-to-be-found mother and her two children.

The Major General Lawrence Ngubane–led operational assessment team raised by the Defence Headquarters said in a report that all the terrorist camps in northern and central Borno had been neutralised by the federal troops.

The video clips showed what the DHQ described as a makeshift clinic of the insurgents, their destroyed camps in the forest, operational vehicles, fuel and water storage tanks. Olukolade said some of the vehicles and other property were set ablaze by the terrorists themselves before fleeing.

The video clips also showed the troops in friendly interactions with residents of communities in some of the localities under the emergency rule.

Olukolade said the troops had been adhering strictly to the rules of engagement, adding that no civilian casualty had been recorded.

In a message to the troops, the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sa'ad Ibrahim, commended them for demonstrating a high level of professionalism in the operations.

He said the feat performed by the soldiers was a major achievement in the process of restoring normalcy to communities hitherto held captive by the insurgents.

Ibrahim enjoined them to continue to adhere strictly to the rules of engagement and operational codes of conduct, stressing that the exercise was a major test case on the capacity of the security forces to manage the nation's security challenges.

He said: "Troops must not make themselves vulnerable. Those who carry arms against the state and citizens are the ones we are fighting against.

"Troops must exhibit a high standard of commitment and discipline in all steps taken during this operation. This is not an exercise but a real operation."

Admiral Ibrahim expressed the confidence that the terrorists would be defeated in record time, considering the superiority of the troops in terms of training and support from Nigerians.

 

The Nation

[TheNation]