ABUJA, May 17 (Xinhua) -- A total of 49 hostages held by terror group Boko Haram have been rescued by troops in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, the army said late Wednesday.
The freed hostages included 33 women, 16 children, and four men, Onyema Nwachukwu, a spokesman of the army said.
They were rescued during clearance operations against Boko Haram by the troops on Tuesday, Nwachukwu said.
According to him, the army has commenced the profiling of the freed persons after which they would be handed over to state officials.
Earlier in May, Nigerian government forces had rescued 1,000 people held hostage by Boko Haram.
The army said most of the victims were used as Boko Haram fighters.
The rescue operations were carried out in collaboration with the multinational joint force of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria.
Last month, troops in Borno had also rescued 149 Boko Haram hostages during a clearance operation.
Nigeria has made considerable gains against the terror group, dislodging its fighters from the Sambisa Forest.
Boko Haram has been blamed for the death of more than 20,000 people and displacement of 2.3 million others in Nigeria since 2009.
