Nigerian forces free hostages

LAGOS, Nigeria – In one of the largest liberations of kidnap victims, at least 187 people including babies were freed in the country’s troubled north, police announced.

Nigerian security forces rescued the hostages from a forest in Zamfara state where they had been held for many weeks, Zamfara police spokesperson Mohammed Shehu said in a statement. He said they were released “unconditionally,” indicating that no ransoms were paid.

The hostages in Zamfara were freed on Thursday as a result of “extensive search and rescue operations,” and were helped by sweeping security measures including a shutdown of mobile phone networks and restrictions on gatherings and movements in Zamfara state, Shehu said.

“The new security measures in the state have been yielding tremendous results, as they have led to the successful rescue of many abducted victims that run into hundreds, and (they) have been reunited with their respective families,” Shehu said. Nigeria’s security agencies will continue working “to ensure the return of lasting peace and security in the state,” he said in the statement.

The people had been kidnapped by armed bandits who operate in remote forest reserves in Nigeria’s northwest. Gangs of the outlaws on motorcycles attack rural villages where they murder, rape, steal and take hostages. The large bands often outnumber police and security in the settlements they attack. There are thousands of such bandits, according to security experts.