Boko Haram releases hostages in Nigeria

Boko Haram released three university lecturers and 10 women kidnapped during different raids in Nigeria last year, the Nigerian government said on Saturday. In July, the extremist group kidnapped the lecturers as they worked on oil prospect evaluations in the Lake Chad area for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. That same month, Boko Haram kidnapped 10 women during an attack on a military and police convoy in northeast Maiduguri. Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said the release followed a series of negotiations directed by President Muhammadu Buhari and facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Shehu said the Department of State Security Services took the rescued captives to the capital city of Abuja, where they are receiving medical and psychological evaluations. “There are many people missing or being held against their will. … We hope that these people, too, will get to return to their families soon,” said Patrick Youssef, ICRC deputy regional director for Africa.