{"id":7131,"date":"2026-06-07T15:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/07\/army-frees-360-abductees-after-clashes-with-boko-haram-in-nigerias-borno\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T15:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:36:11","slug":"army-frees-360-abductees-after-clashes-with-boko-haram-in-nigerias-borno","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/07\/army-frees-360-abductees-after-clashes-with-boko-haram-in-nigerias-borno\/","title":{"rendered":"Army frees 360 abductees after clashes with Boko Haram in Nigeria\u2019s Borno"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Two infants succumbed to the \u2018harsh conditions\u2019 of Boko Haram captivity in the Mandara mountains, the army says.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The Nigerian army says it has secured the release of 360 people abducted by Boko Haram earlier this year in the northeastern part of the country.<\/p>\n<p>The rescue operation unfolded in a Boko Haram stronghold in the south of Borno State, the military said in a statement on Sunday. F<span>orces descended upon the Mandara mountains where Boko Haram fighters were holding hundreds of people \u201cunder harsh conditions\u201d, it said.<\/span><\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/16\/abu-bilal-al-minuki-isils-shadow-commander-in-west-africa\">Abu-Bilal al-Minuki: ISIL\u2019s shadow commander in West Africa<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/18\/us-military-carries-out-more-strikes-against-isil-fighters-in-nigeria\">US military carries out more strikes against ISIL fighters in Nigeria<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/16\/gunmen-kidnap-dozens-of-students-in-nigerias-borno-state\">Gunmen kidnap dozens of students in Nigeria\u2019s Borno State<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/18\/how-iswap-and-boko-haram-are-reshaping-the-lake-chad-basin\">How ISWAP and Boko Haram are reshaping the Lake Chad Basin<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Two infants \u201csuccumbed to exhaustion occasioned by the extremely challenging mountainous terrain\u201d and the conditions they endured during captivity, army spokesperson Haruna Sani said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe remaining rescued abductees were successfully evacuated to safe locations for medical care and humanitarian support, marking a major operational success and a significant setback for the terrorist group,\u201d Sani said.<\/p>\n<p>The military statement said troops had gathered intelligence and used \u201cpsychological operations\u201d to sow \u201cmistrust within the insurgent ranks\u201d before \u201cthe commencement of the assault phase\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Several Boko Haram fighters fled into the surrounding mountains, while others surrendered, though the army did not say whether it completed arrests.<\/p>\n<p>A local youth leader and Borno senator confirmed the release to the AFP news agency on Saturday, but said the group included more than 400 people.<\/p>\n<p>Boko Haram had demanded millions of Nigerian naira in ransom for the captives.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"growing-insecurity\">Growing insecurity<\/h2>\n<p>Borno State is a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2026\/2\/9\/in-nigerias-woro-massacre-leaves-a-community-devastated-and-in-ruins\">hotbed<\/a> for armed groups, bandits and separatists driving northeastern Nigeria\u2019s security crisis, which accelerated in 2009 when Boko Haram began its bloody attacks.<\/p>\n<p>The group regularly carries out kidnappings and raised about $1.66m in ransom payments between July 2024 and June 2025, according to Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>In response, the Nigerian military has ramped up efforts to confront Boko Haram and its breakaway group, the ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP).<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria said a joint operation with the United States had killed 175 ISWAP fighters last month.<\/p>\n<p>The Nigerian and US presidents <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/16\/trump-says-isil-second-in-command-abu-bilal-al-minuki-killed\">announced the killing<\/a> of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, described as ISIL\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/16\/abu-bilal-al-minuki-isils-shadow-commander-in-west-africa\">second-in-command<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The fight led by Boko Haram and various armed groups has killed tens of thousands of people and forcibly displaced at least two million from their homes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two infants succumbed to the \u2018harsh conditions\u2019 of Boko Haram captivity in the Mandara mountains, the army says. The Nigerian army says it has secured the release of 360 people abducted by Boko Haram earlier this year in the northeastern part of the country. The rescue operation unfolded in a Boko Haram stronghold in the &#8230; <a title=\"Army frees 360 abductees after clashes with Boko Haram in Nigeria\u2019s Borno\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/07\/army-frees-360-abductees-after-clashes-with-boko-haram-in-nigerias-borno\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Army frees 360 abductees after clashes with Boko Haram in Nigeria\u2019s Borno\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}