ABUJA, Nigeria, April 28 (UPI) -- Nigerian troops rescued 200 girls and 93 women during an offensive against Boko Haram forces, the Nigerian military said Tuesday.
The announcement came as Nigerian soldiers engage Boko Haram militants in the country's Sambisa Forest, where the terrorist group was suspected of taking 200 schoolgirls it abducted from the village of Chibok in April of last year. The abductions sparked global outrage and a #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign.
However, the girls taken from Chibok were not among those released Tuesday, the military said.
The Nigerian Armed Forces announced the rescue on Twitter. It also claimed to have captured three Boko Haram camps in the area and over the weekend tweeted denials that its troops had retreated in battle.
The Nigerian army's 7th Division was tasked with the search and rescue mission last week, with an objective to recover the Chibok schoolgirls.
An unidentified top security official reportedly told the Nigerian Tribune that "Sambisa Forest is now seen as the likely area the girls might be kept," and that "the army hopes to end the Boko Haram crises and rescue the Chibok girls before May 29, as stated by the National Security Adviser."
A wave of suicide bombings by young female perpetrators over the past months in Nigeria have led experts to speculate that Boko Haram, which has waged war seeking an Islamic state in the country since 2009, might be using abducted children for the attacks.
