Nigeria's largest rescue operation frees 308 hostages held by militants in Kwara State
Nigerian security forces say they have freed at least 308 people who were being held captive by jihadi militants, marking what officials describe as the largest rescue operation in the country’s recent history. The majority of those released — 163 individuals — came from the Woro community in Kwara State, where they were seized during a raid on February 3. In that same attack, the kidnappers killed an additional 160 villagers.
Many of the freed captives told the Associated Press they believed they were taken as punishment for refusing to adopt the militants’ religious teachings. Hauwa Saliu, one of the women released, said her captors repeatedly asked whether she and others had accepted jihad. She recalled praying for deliverance but never imagining it would come: “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.”
Another former hostage, Amira Saliu, who works as a nurse, described the harsh environment in which the women and children were kept. The group was confined to a forest near a river and forced to extinguish fires and hide whenever they heard helicopters approaching. Amira also recounted assisting ten women in childbirth without any medical supplies or gloves. “I had no choice but to use my bare hands,” she said.
Mary Ishaya, 44, spoke of the relentless deprivation. She said the captives often went days without food and were compelled to bury fellow hostages who had died. “I still cannot find the right words to describe what has happened to us. We saw death and suffering,” she noted.
State officials have begun providing medical care to the survivors. Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq of Kwara State said 46 of the freed individuals are currently receiving treatment in a hospital. He expressed grief over the ordeal, noting that most of those affected are children and women. “This is indeed, indeed a very sad situation. We've not yet come to terms with it. We're still assessing the situation. As you can see, it's just kids . children and women that are here today,” he said. “It's truly a shame that this has happened.”
The rescue shines a light on the broader conflict between Nigeria’s Islamist insurgency, active mainly in the north, and the nation’s sizable Christian community, which makes up roughly 45 percent of the population. In December 2020, then‑President Donald Trump, in coordination with Nigerian authorities, authorized precision missile strikes against ISIS‑linked militants in northern Nigeria, saying the action was needed to protect Christians. A follow‑up joint U.S.–Nigerian operation in May reportedly resulted in the death of a senior ISIS commander, Abu Bakr al‑Mainuk.