Nigerian forces free hundreds of Boko Haram captives

Nigerian officials announced late today via Twitter that soldiers battling Boko Haram have rescued 200 girls and 93 women held by the Islamic militants.

Officials say none of the freed captives were from the mostly Christian group of nearly 300 schoolgirls taken a year ago from Chibok. The army is screening and profiling the former hostages now to learn more about where they came from and how long they’ve been held.

Soldiers found the captives in the Sambisa Forest, long considered a Boko Haram stronghold. The army pursued the militants there after an multinational force led by Chadian soldiers beat the militants back from the northeastern Nigerian border. Earlier today, Nigerian officials visited the town of Damasak and discovered the bodies of hundreds of children, women, and men believed killed by Boko Haram as they fled.

“I know that there was a large-scale atrocity, but I cannot tell you the precise number of dead bodies,” Senator-elect Abubakar Kyari on Monday told reporters in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital 110 miles southeast of Damasak.

The Sambisa Forest is Boko Haram’s last stronghold in northeast Nigeria. It was widely reported that the militants took the Chibok schoolgirls there after snatching them in the middle of the night. But until now, no military units dared venture in after them. The multinational African force started pounding the forest weeks ago with airstrikes and ground forces advanced into the area last week.

Although the Chibok kidnapping was the most widely publicized, Boko Haram has perpetuated a brutal campaign of hostage-taking and violence since then, with hundreds more civilians taken. Officials believe some of the women and children have been forced to act as suicide bombers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.