At least three women were killed in a landmine
explosion and others crushed to death by tanks as the
military moved in to rescue them from Boko Haram,
one freed hostage said on Sunday.
The deaths happened in the Islamists' Sambisa Forest
stronghold, from where soldiers have freed hundreds
of women and children seized during the bloody
insurgency in the northeast.
The military said on Sunday that 275 women and
children had been taken to a relief camp in the
Adamawa state capital, Yola.
More than 700 women and children have been found
in the dense forest over the past week, raising hopes
the 219 girls snatched from their school in Chibok,
Borno state, in April 2014 were among them The teenagers' plight caused global outrage and
brought unprecedented world attention on the conflict,
which has left at least 15 000 dead and made some
1.5 million homeless since 2009.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)
said the 275 - some of them traumatised and
malnourished by their ordeal - would undergo
"rehabilitation" in Yola, including trauma counselling.
"Eight women and 15 children have been taken to the
hospital for treatment for injuries they sustained during
the rescue operation," spokesperson Sani Datti told
AFP.
Steps from freedom
Binta Abdullahi, who was kidnapped from a village
near Madagali, in the north of Adamawa, more than a
year ago, described the hostages' ordeal as the
soldiers moved in.
"When the military stormed the camp where we were
being held, our captors told us to take cover under
trees and shrubs to avoid military shelling," the 18-
year-old told reporters in Yola.
"Some women who hid under trees were crushed by
military tanks which mowed them down without
knowing they were there "After soldiers subdued Boko Haram fighters and
rescued us they loaded those too weak or sick to trek
into vehicles and asked the rest of us to walk
behind... to avoid stepping on land mines planted by
Boko Haram all over the place.
"At least three women and some soldiers were killed
when a mine exploded after a woman stepped on one."
Boko Haram have used kidnapping as a tactic
throughout the past six years. Amnesty International
said last month more than 2 000 women and girls
have been seized since the start of last year.
‘I couldn’t leave them’
Abdullahi said she was held in two places before being
moved to Sambisa last month, including Boko
Haram's "headquarters" in Gwoza, from where the
Islamic State group affiliate declared a caliphate last
year.
Her two sisters, who were also kidnapped, managed
to escape but she stayed as she was looking after
three children, aged four and three, whose mothers
were not among those kidnapped.
"I couldn't leave them," she said.
Her testimony chimed with that of other former
hostages, who described forced labour, marriage,
sexual and psychological abuse by their captors, as
well as being compelled to fight on the front line "They asked us to marry Boko Haram members but
we told them there was no way we could get married
because we were already married to our husbands,"
she said.
"They said since we would not marry them they would
sell us as slaves at the right time."
Lami Musa, 19, was four months' pregnant when Boko
Haram fighters stormed her village of Lassa, near
Chibok, five months ago.
She said she was not married off because she was
pregnant but was told she would be after she gave
birth.
"Fortunately I was rescued a day after giving birth. I
thank God," she added.
'Tired and traumatised'
The authorities in Yola have recorded the former
hostages' personal data, including their names, age,
and place of origin, according to NEMA's Datti.
But how long they will remain in the camps is unclear.
Earlier this year, nearly 200 women released by Boko
Haram were held in a government camp in Yobe state
for more than a month.
"Most of them looked tired and traumatised. They
were unkempt. From their looks they haven't had a
bath for days," said Datti The women and children were provided with food,
mattresses, blankets, mosquito nets, soap and
detergents.
The defence headquarters said on Sunday 260 women
and children who were stranded after fleeing a Boko
Haram attack had been located in Adamawa and
returned to their communities in Madagali.
President Goodluck Jonathan's handling of the Boko
Haram crisis was seen as a key reason for his election
defeat and the recent military successes, while
welcomed, viewed as too little, too late.
Jonathan hands over power to former military ruler
Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, having pledged to
defeat the militants
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