338 hostages of Boko Haram rescued in Nigeria

“The rescued persons which comprised eight males, 138 females and 192 children, have since been evacuated”, he said.

It said troops also killed 30 suspected jihadists and seized a cache of arms and ammunition in the area.

“The successful clearance operations and ambushing of the terrorists has further degraded them and saved the lives of so many innocent victims of their suicide bombings”, said Usman, according to News24 Nigeria.

Its leader Abubakar Shekau appears twice on the list, despite previous claims by the army that he had been killed and claims by Chad’s President Idriss Deby in August that the group had a new leader who was open to dialogue.

Boko Haram began its militancy against the government of Nigeria in 2009. Boko Haram denies scores of extremists have turned themselves in.

Their audacious kidnapping on April 14 2014 sparked global anger, with strong condemnation of then president Goodluck Jonathan for his slow response to the girls’ plight.

He said: “What do you do after wiping out Boko Haram today?”

Almost 170 people have been killed this month and more than 1,420 since Buhari came to power, according to an AFP tally.

At least 13 people are dead, and 3 injured, as a result of a Boko Haram attack on village in south-east Niger state, Vanguard reports. “They burned cars, houses, stores”, an eyetwitness said.

Nigerian soldiers have rescued over 330 people, mainly women and children, held hostage by Takfiri Boko Haram terrorist group in a large military operation in the country’s troubled northeastern state of Borno.

Nigeria’s secret police said at the weekend they had arrested and charged 45 suspects over an alleged Boko Haram plot to attack the country’s financial hub, Lagos. Soldiers from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger have been battling the terrorists in recent months.