Nigeria liberates 293 girls and women from Boko Haram

The Nigerian military announced on Tuesday that it has freed 200 girls and 93 women from the hands of the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram.

But the more than 200 girl students kidnapped from their school in the town of Chibok more than a year ago were not among those freed, according to army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman as quoted by the Nigerian newspaper "This Day".

Military spokesman Chris Olukolade announced the successful liberation of 293 females earlier on Twitter. The army rescued them in the region of Sambisa forest. Officials were interviewing the victims to determine their identity.

The kidnapping of the 200 students from the north-east Nigerian community of Chibok provoked worldwide outrage.

Boko Haram kidnaps young girls to force them to convert to Islam and press them into marriage or keep them as slaves.

Gordon Brown, former British prime minister and UN special envoy on global education, welcomed the news. "The rescue of 200 girls, wherever they come from, is to be welcomed," Brown said. "Now I issue a plea: let us bring an end to the abductions and kidnappings and work to ensure all of those who have been taken by Boko Haram are set free."  (dpa)

More on Boko Haram on Qantara.de:

Kidnapping by Boko Haram: Failing the mothers and daughters of Nigeria

Militant Islamism in Nigeria: The radical seed of Boko Haram