Boko Haram 'under siege'
Nigeria's military said yesterday it had "besieged" Boko Haram positions in the Islamist militant group's northeastern heartland after setting free 178 hostages, mainly women and children.
The ongoing operation has led to the capture of a Boko Haram commander, according to the army, while a "large number" of the extremists have been killed in air strikes.
The hostages were released on Sunday near Aulari, about 70 kilometres (40 miles) south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, once a jihadist stronghold.
"During the offensive operations, 178 people held captive by the terrorists were rescued. They include 101 children, 67 women and 10 men," military spokesman Colonel Tukur Gusau said.
The Nigerian military has announced the release of hundreds of people held by Boko Haram in recent months, many of them in the vast Sambisa forest, a longtime bastion of the Islamist group.
"The military operation... will continue until the terrorists are totally subdued. For now, we have besieged the forest and military operations are going on from different fronts," army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman told AFP.
He said the freed hostages were being screened and processed and would be reunited with their families after further security checks.
However the soldier was unable to give any details on the identity or rank of the Boko Haram commander seized in the operation to free the hostages, except that the militant was "undergoing interrogation".
Air strikes on Friday and Saturday hit the village of Bita on the fringes of the forest near the Cameroonian border, where Boko Haram was preparing to launch an offensive, the military said.
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