Nigeria's army says it has rescued 200 girls and 93 women from Boko Haram camps during a military operation to wrest back control of the Sambisa Forest.
An army spokesman told AP news agency on Tuesday that the 293 females were not the girls abducted from Chibok a year ago. (http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/11/reports-nigeria-chibok-falls-boko-haram-20141114161534122730.html)
Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls from the northeastern town of Chibok, in Borno state, sparking an international outcry.
The group has been waging an increasingly deadly insurgency in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north since 2009, attacking schools teaching a "Western" curriculum, churches and government targets.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the violence, according to human rights group Amnesty International, more that 5,500 civilians have been killed and more than 1.5 million people, including 800,000 children, have fled their homes due to the violence.
Boko Haram implements a harsh interpretation of Islamic law in the areas that it holds and wants to create an Islamic state in the mainly Muslim north.
The group has forcibly conscripted men and young boys to take up arms in its war against the Nigerian government and other neighbouring countries; while women and girls are being subjected to forced marriage, forced labour and rape.
[color=#8e8e8e !important]Source:[/color] [color=#212121 !important]Al Jazeera and agencies[/color]