Nigerian Army Speaks Up About Boko Haram Hostages Rescued In Sambisa

After nearly 500 women and children kept hostages by Boko Haram in Sambisa forest stronghold were released, Nigeria’s military on Thursday admitted that the hostages were held in severe and inhuman conditions.

Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade said the army would “comprehensively” clean out the forest. “There is great hope for the recovery of more hostages of the terrorists,” he added.

The military said the true identity of some of the rescued women and girls are yet to be ascertained.

“At the moment, what is upper most and of priority is their movement to a conducive place where they are now undergoing thorough profiling to verify their true identity, where they come from, how they found themselves in the forest, etc,” the military said in a statement. “Additional number of persons are still being recovered from the forest. Until such comprehensive profiling is done, nobody can confirm whether they are among the Chibok girls or not.”

Moreover, the Nigerian military has released heart-wrenching images of what it says are survivors rescued from the notorious Sambisa forest. The images show women and children, most of them malnourished, suggesting the survivors were kept under extremely terrible conditions.

Olukolade said air force jets had been bombarding the forest, which he described as Boko Haram’s “last bastion” in the northeast after being pushed out of captured towns.

He told a news conference that in the last few days, more than 13 camps had been captured. Equipment such as armoured personnel carriers, pick-up trucks and weapons were seized.

According to him, “several” field commanders and foot soldiers were killed – he didn’t specify the number – while one soldier was also killed and 10 wounded."