At least 360 people kidnapped by Boko Haram jihadists from a mainly Muslim community in Nigeria\u2019s north-eastern Borno state in March have been freed from a remote mountain hideout.<\/p>\n
The circumstances of how they were freed are disputed. The army says it had launched an unprecedented intelligence-led operation that had been weeks in the planning and taken the Islamist militants by surprise.<\/p>\n
But a local group, the Borno South Youth Initiative, says it mediated the unconditional release, putting the number of those freed at 416.<\/p>\n
Mass abductions by armed groups for ransom have become a common tactic in Nigeria in recent years \u2013 and though it is illegal to pay ransoms, it does happen.<\/p>\n
Boko Haram infamously kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from the village of Chibok in 2014 \u2013 around 90 of whom remain missing.<\/p>\n
At the time the group forced its captives into sexual slavery, domestic servitude or used them as suicide bombers.<\/p>\n
But a range of groups across Nigeria now use kidnapping to raise funds, focusing on soft targets such as schools, churches, mosques and remote villages.<\/p>\n
Analysts say ransom payments by desperate families, intermediaries or, in some cases, state authorities have fuelled the abductions.<\/p>\n
Military spokesperson Lt-Col Haruna M Sani described the assault on Boko Haram\u2019s Mandara mountain hideout, \u201cunder cover of darkness\u201d, as one of the military\u2019s \u201cmost significant hostage rescue operations\u201d in the north-east.<\/p>\n
\u201cFaced with the speed, precision, and overwhelming combat power of the advancing troops, several insurgents abandoned their positions and fled into surrounding mountainous terrain<\/a>, while others surrendered,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n The authorities say the hostages are receiving medical care.<\/p>\n \u201cSadly, two infants died due to exhaustion from prolonged captivity and harsh terrain,\u201d Daniel Bwala, a special adviser to President Bola Tinubu, posted on X.<\/p>\n He said the government, which has been coming under fierce criticism for the widespread insecurity across Nigeria, commended the troops.<\/p>\n The captives are from around Ngoshe, a mainly Muslim community near the border with Cameroon.<\/p>\n In early March, the area came under attack from Boko Haram fighters reportedly as people were breaking their Ramadan fast.<\/p>\n The post Hundreds of captives freed from Boko Haram mountain hideout<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At least 360 people kidnapped by Boko Haram jihadists from a mainly Muslim community in Nigeria\u2019s north-eastern Borno state in March have been freed from a remote mountain hideout. The circumstances of how they were freed are disputed. The army says it had launched an unprecedented intelligence-led operation that had been weeks in the planning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}