Nigeria Frees 308 Hostages in Largest Single Rescue Operation on Record

Nigerian security forces have freed at least 308 women and children who were held captive by jihadist kidnappers, in what officials are calling the largest single rescue operation in the country's history, according to the Associated Press.

Most of the victims, 163 of them, were abducted from the Woro community in Kwara State during a raid on February 3. Jihadists killed an additional 160 people in that same attack, according to the AP.

Survivors told the AP they believe they were taken as punishment for refusing to convert. Hauwa Saliu, one of the freed captives, said her kidnappers repeatedly pressured the group to "accept jihad." "We prayed to God to help us go back home, but it never really crossed our minds that we were going to go back home," she told the AP.

Another victim, Amira Saliu, a nurse by training, described being held in a forest camp near a river where captives had to extinguish cooking fires and hide whenever helicopters passed overhead. She said she delivered 10 babies during captivity with no medical equipment or gloves. "I had no choice but to use my bare hands," she said.

Mary Ishaya, 44, told the AP the captives frequently went days without food and were forced to bury fellow prisoners who died in the camp. "I still cannot find the right words to describe what has happened to us. We saw death and suffering," she said.

Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq confirmed at a news conference that 46 of the rescued victims are being treated at a hospital. "This is indeed a very sad situation. We've not yet come to terms with it. We're still assessing the situation," he said. "It's truly a shame that this has happened."

A Longer Pattern of Violence

The Woro raid and rescue are part of a broader insurgency that has plagued northern and central Nigeria for years, driven by jihadist groups including factions linked to the Islamic State and Boko Haram. Christians make up roughly 45% of Nigeria's population, and both Christian and Muslim communities have been targeted by militant violence, though attacks on Christian villages have drawn particular international attention.

On June 22, Fulani herdsmen killed 28 people, including Rev. Markus Nyam, a pastor with the Church of Christ in Nations, in an attack on Kawel village in Plateau State's Bokkos County. Resident Jesse Peter Dukut told reporters that villagers were trapped inside their homes as gunmen swept through the community, shooting anyone who tried to flee.

The U.S. has stepped up direct military involvement in the region. On Christmas Day, President Trump authorized precision missile strikes, coordinated with Nigeria's government, targeting Islamic State-affiliated groups in northern Nigeria, with the stated goal of protecting Christian communities. In May, U.S. and Nigerian forces carried out joint operations that reportedly killed Abu Bakr al Mainuki, a senior Islamic State leader in the region.

These details of U.S. involvement come from Daily Wire's reporting citing administration statements. Independent confirmation of al Mainuki's death and the precise scope of the strikes has not been widely corroborated by other outlets in these reports, and Nigeria's government has not released a full public accounting of the joint operations' outcomes.

The scale of the jihadist kidnapping campaign, and Nigeria's difficulty stopping it, raises hard questions that go beyond one rescue. Boko Haram and its offshoots have abducted thousands of Nigerians over more than a decade, most famously the 276 Chibok schoolgirls taken in 2014, dozens of whom remain unaccounted for. Mass rescues like this one are rare enough to make international news, which itself says something about how routine mass abduction has become in the region.

What happens next for the 308 freed captives, particularly the 46 hospitalized, and whether Nigerian authorities can prevent another Woro-style raid, remains unresolved. Kwara State's governor has not announced a specific security plan beyond continued "assessment," and no timeline has been given for a broader response to the kidnapping networks operating in the region.