Nigerian army rescues 95 Boko Haram captives

By Abu 'Adnan

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - At least 95 prisoners of the Boko Haram terror group were rescued over the weekend in military operations in northeast Nigeria, the country's armed forces said Monday.

Army spokesman Sagir Musa said in a statement that three terrorists were killed in the operations in Borno, their birthplace and remaining stronghold.

Musa said 13 women and 26 children were rescued during the operations in Kobe and Boboshe villages, respectively.

He said an additional 29 women, 25 children and two men were freed when troops destroyed another Boko Haram camp in the Tafana 1 and Tafana 2 villages.

"Items recovered [during the operations] included two boxes filled with Quran, two terrorists’ flags, five bicycles, five SIM cards of different networks and assorted clothing materials," he added.

Musa said the terror group was using women and children as forced labor in farmland it controlled in order to sustain itself in the face of the "nobly ferocious operations of Nigerian Army troops".