ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A lady who was seized from her college together with a whole bunch others throughout a raid by extremists ten years in the past in northeastern Nigeria has been rescued collectively together with her three youngsters, the Nigerian military mentioned Thursday.
Lydia Simon, who’s 5 months pregnant, was rescued by Nigerian troops within the Gwoza council space of Borno state, the place the 15-year insurgency by Islamic extremists is concentrated, in accordance with a press release from the military.
The assertion was accompanied by an image of Simon and her youngsters, who seem like aged between 2 and 4. She is but to be reunited together with her household.
Simon was amongst 276 women seized from their college in Nigeria’s Chibok village in April 2014 on the peak of the extremist violence within the area. About 82 of them are nonetheless in captivity.
The primary of a sequence of mass college kidnappings within the West African nation, the Chibok abduction shocked the world and triggered a world social media marketing campaign tagged #BringBackOurGirls.
The Nigerian military didn’t say how she was freed apart from that she was rescued in a hotspot often called Ngoshe, 130 kilometers (74 miles) north of the Borno state capital of Maiduguri.
Some Chibok dad and mom and safety analysts have mentioned there may be little proof to indicate there’s a particular army operation to free the ladies. Those that returned lately had been principally discovered deserted within the forests.
A number of the lately freed girls had been both raped by the insurgents or pressured into marriages, in accordance with Chioma Agwuegbo, an activist who was a part of the #BringBackOurGirls marketing campaign.
“We have now heard their tales concerning the quantity of trauma and violence they’ve confronted. Anyone who was kidnapped 10 years in the past isn’t returning as the identical particular person,” Agwuegbo mentioned.
Villagers in Chibok joined Simon’s household as they waited for once they can be allowed to see her. “The federal government has not advised us something (and) we’re ready for an official name,” mentioned Yakubu Nkeki, chairman of the Chibok women’ dad and mom’ affiliation.
