Nigerian Troops Rescue 338 People Held by Boko Haram

Nigerian troops have rescued 338 people, mainly women and children, held by the Islamist group Boko Haram in their Sambisa forest stronghold in the country's north-east.

The soldiers killed 30 suspected jihadists and seized a cache of arms and ammunition, the military said, adding that 138 women and 192 children were among the survivors.

It is unclear whether any of the hostages rescued were part of the group of 276 schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok last April.

Elsewhere in Nigeria, troops ambushed and killed four suspected Boko Haram operatives on a suicide bombing mission in the eastern state of Adamawa. The soldiers recovered two AK-47 rifles, mortar bombs, and other “unexploded ordinances”.

Nigerian army public relations director, Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman told AllAfrica.com that "the successful clearance operations and ambushing of the terrorists has further degraded them and saved the lives of so many innocent victims of their suicide bombings".

The colonel also noted that the raid coincided with the Nigerian army chief Tukur Buratai’s visit to the armed forces’ Mubi headquarters.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power in May on a pledge to crush Boko Haram, has given his military commanders until the end of December to defeat the group, whose insurgency has killed at least 17,000 people and forced more than 2.5 million to flee their homes since 2009.