Capture d’écran d’une vidéo de Boko Haram datant du 31 octobre 2014. Abubakar Shekau, le chef de la secte, se trouve au milieu de la photo. © APIn Nigeria, the Boko Haram terrorist group has freed more than 400 people who were abducted earlier this year in a village in Borno State, located in the country’s northeast, according to a local senator and a youth organization leader who spoke on Sunday, June 7.
Samaila Kaigama, chairman of the Borno South Youth Alliance (Bosya), reported that 416 women and children kidnapped in Ngoshe were released on Saturday. Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume of Borno State confirmed the release, although he said he was unaware of the exact circumstances surrounding the operation.
Bosya, which acted as an intermediary between the captors and the hostages’ families, did not provide further details. No information was given about any ransom payment or involvement by security forces.
An area frequently targeted by attacks
Ngoshe lies less than 10 kilometers from the Cameroon border in the Gwoza hills, a region considered a Boko Haram stronghold and regularly hit by assaults. Since 2009, the insurgency led by Boko Haram and later by its rival West African faction ISWAP has caused tens of thousands of deaths and displaced millions in northeastern Nigeria.
