Nigerian government has freed 12,000 Boko Haram captives – Official

The Minister of Defence, Mansur Ali, said on Tuesday, that 12,000 Boko Haram captives, mainly women and children have been freed, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

Mr. Ali said those freed include the over 100 Chibok girls freed by the Muhammadu Buhari administration in two batches. The latest batch of 82 Chibok girls were freed in a swap deal with the Boko Haram with detained members of the group also released by the government.

The Boko Haram insurgency has caused the death of about 100,000 people since 2009 and has continued despite the terror group losing most of the territory it controlled to the Nigerian forces.

Details later…