Survivors of Boko Haram captivity have revealed how the militant group’s fighters stoned some of their captives to death as the military approached to rescue the victims in Sambisa Forest.

Quoting survivors, Associated Press reported that several women also died when they were crushed mistakenly by a Nigerian military armoured vehicle. Three, it reported, were blown up by a landmine, as they were walking to freedom.

These tragic stories came from girls and women brought to a refugee camp, the news agency reported, and the victims are still finding it hard to believe they are safe.

“We just have to give praise to God that we are alive, those of us who have survived,” said Lami Musa, 27, as she cradled her five-day-old baby girl.

She is among 275 children, girls and women, who were getting medical care and being registered yesterday on their first day out of Boko Haram’s war zone.

Musa was in the first group to be transported by road over three days to the safety of Malkohi refugee camp, a dust-blown deserted school set among baobab trees on the outskirts of Yola, the capital of Adamawa State.

She had just given birth to her yet-to-be-named baby last week when the crackle of gunfire hinted rescuers might be nearby.

“Boko Haram came and told us they were moving out and said that we should run away with them. But we said no,” she explained from a bed in the camp clinic.

“Then they started stoning us. I held my baby to my stomach and doubled over to protect her,” she added,

Another survivor of the stoning, Salamatu Bulama, said several girls and women were killed, but they do not know exactly how many.

The survivors stated that the horrors did not end as the military arrived, as a group of women hiding in the bush were run over by an armored personnel carrier, whose operator did not see them.

“I think those killed there were about 10,” said Bulama.

Other women died from stray bullets, she said, naming three she knew.

Bulama shielded her face with her veil and cried when she thought about another death in the camp: her only son, a toddler of two who died of an illness she said was aggravated by malnutrition two months ago.

“What will I tell my husband?” she sobbed

On her part, Musa said her husband, the father of the new baby, was killed by Boko Haram when they abducted her from her village of Lassa in December. She doesn’t know the fate of their three other children.

At the camp, Associated Press reported, 21 girls and women with bullet wounds and fractured limbs were taken to the city hospital after they arrived on Saturday evening. Officials yesterday were collating details of the rescued 61 women and 214 children, almost all girls.

Health workers put critically malnourished babies on intravenous drips, babies whose rib cages and shoulder blades protruded like skeletons were given packs of therapeutic food to suck from.

Through interviews, officials have determined that almost all those rescued are from Gumsuri, a village near the town of Chibok.

Nigerian army hands over 275 rescued women, children to NEMA

The 23 Armoured Brigade of the Nigerian Army based in Yola, Adamawa State, has handed over 275 rescued women and children from insurgents in Sambisa Forest to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for rehabilitation.‎

The rescued women and children, traumatized and malnourished by their ordeal, were immediately taken to Malkohi IDPs camp in Yola for profiling and were provided with food, mattresses, blankets, mosquito nets, soap and detergents.

According to a statement signed by the spokesperson of NEMA, Sani Datti, “Statistically, the rescued women and children are comprised of 69 women, 14 girls, 26 male children aged 6-12 years, 49 male children aged 5 years, 48 female children aged 0-5years and 69 females aged 6-12 years, while 21 injured people are on admission at the Federal Medical Centre, Yola.

Receiving the rescued people, NEMA director-general, Muhammad Sani Sidi, who was represented by the director, Search and Rescue, Air Commodore Charles Otegbade, said the rescued women and children need special attention and added that the agency had made all the necessary arrangements with relevant stakeholders for trauma counseling and other forms of assistance to enable them recover and return to normal life.

They rescued victims were handed over to NEMA by the commander, 23 Armoured Brigade, Col. Aba Popoola.

DHQ releases videos of troops dislodging terrorists, rescuing captives

The Nigerian military has released a series of operational video clips showing how Nigerians troops are battling and dislodging the Boko Haram terrorists inside the notorious Sambisa Forest, while at the same time carefully guiding women and children rescued from captivity to safety.

The video released to the media yesterday showed Nigerian Air Force pilots taunting the terrorists, with hundreds of the insurgents running helter-skelter in the expansive forest. In another video clip, vulnerable women and children were seen being cautiously guided to safety by the pilots.

An officer involved in the operation was quoted as saying: “Since the essence of the operation is not to kill everybody in sight, the Air Force pilots deploy their skills in herding both terrorists and their captives in different directions so that those conscripted and abducted are guided to safety zones while the armed terrorists meet their waterloo.”

Since the Nigerian troops invaded the notorious forest, over 700 women, girls and children have been rescued. The troops rescued 293 in the first operation and destroyed many terrorists’ camps, including infamous Tokumbere camp. The next day, another 160 were freed.

In another operation, involving Special Forces, another set of 275 women and children were rescued at the Kawuri and Konduga end of Sambisa Forest.

Military sources disclosed that the sustained operations deep into the Sambisa Forest is being spearheaded by the Air Force through what an officer described as “tactical aerial bombardments and guided reconnaissance” with the main aim of decimating and clearing the terrorists from the forest which serves as their last bastion.

Several field commanders and foot soldiers of the terrorist group have been killed since the ongoing operation commenced, with some armoured personnel carriers, vehicles mounted with anti-aircraft guns and several trucks also captured or destroyed by the military.

Borno lauds Nigerian military on rescue of abducted women

The Borno State government yesterday commended the Nigerian military for its efforts in rescuing over 700 women and children abducted by suspected Boko Haram insurgents in Sambisa Forest.

The military had last week rescued the women in batches following an operation at the forest.

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima, who gave the commendation in a statement signed by his special adviser on Communication, Mallam Isa Gusau, in Maiduguri, the state capital, described the military operation as heart-warming.

“The operation is gratifying regardless of whether or not the rescued women form part of the over 200 students stolen by insurgents at Government Secondary School (GSS), Chibok, on April 14, 2014.

“The lives, safety and well-being of all residents of the state are of equal importance to us and, as such, we celebrated the news about the rescue with so much excitement in a manner we would have celebrated if the military succeed in freeing the Chibok girls,’’ he said.