Nigeria’s Army said Tuesday it had liberated 30 hostages held by Boko Haram, including 21 children and seven women, amid ongoing offensives against the extremists in the country’s northeast.
Army officials said the operation to free the captives took place in the town of Dikwa in Borno State, which had fallen to the militant group twice since April, and was recaptured by Nigerian troops last week, France24 reported.
“As a result of ongoing operations … the Nigerian Army rescued 30 persons from the hands of the terrorists,” army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.
“They include 21 children and a six-day-old infant, seven women, including three nursing mothers, and two elderly male adults.” Dikwa is located around 90 km east of Borno state capital Maiduguri.
Earlier Tuesday, 11 Boko Haram militants were killed in clashes with the military in a village in southern Borno, a local resident and a member of the militia fighting alongside the army said. Three militia fighters were also killed in the battle.
On Tuesday, Nigeria’s military spokesman said a new regional task force of 8,700 troops, drawing in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, will go into action soon to end Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency that has claimed some 15,000 lives.
