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Nigeria rescues 275 women, children from Boko Haram camp

Xinhua, May 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Nigeria has rescued at least 275 women and children from the camp of Boko Haram in the northeastern Borno State, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Thursday.

Soon after they were liberated by the country's military forces in Borno State, the abductees were taken to a temporary camp in Malkohi, a local community near Yola, capital of the neighboring Adamawa State, from where they were taken to a destination yet to be ascertained, a spokesman of NEMA told Xinhua.

The evacuation was a military strategy, to guarantee the safety of the abducted persons, spokesman of the local emergency management agency said.

A source privy to the military strategy said this was done on the orders of Nigeria's National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, mainly to let them undergo psycho-trauma therapy.

Last weekend, the women and children were taken in buses by the military to an airport in Yola, where they boarded military aircraft to the unknown destination, the source added.

The 275 women and children rescued from the enclave of Boko Haram in Sambisa Forest, one of the largest training camps of the terror group in Nigeria's northeastern region, were earlier taken by the military to Malkohi camp on May 2.

At least 500 women and children earlier abducted by Boko Haram have so far been rescued by Nigerian government forces' operation to rout the terror group from their hideouts. Endi