page_title: 2015 West African offensive
section_title: Hostage rescues
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 West African offensive / The offensive / Hostage rescues
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Femmes et enfants otages de Boko Haram après avoir été délivrés par l'armée nigériane en 2015.
context_page_description: Starting in late January 2015, a coalition of West African troops launched an offensive against the Boko Haram insurgents in Nigeria.
context_section_description: On April 22, the Nigerian military began to push into the Sambisa Forest, a dense forest covering 23,000 square miles.  The area is considered very difficult to navigate by people unfamiliar with the terrain and has long been considered the launching point of many Boko Haram attacks and likely hiding point of villagers taken hostage.  It is considered the last stronghold of Boko Haram. A government spokesman said a top Boko Haram commander was killed in the initial push.  Frank Charnas, a political analyst familiar with the region, said the move signaled the end of Boko Haram as a military force.  "They really are fighting what appears to be their last battle", he added. "It does represent quite a significant step on behalf of the Nigerian military because up until now they have not gone into the Sambisa Forest and have also been pretty poor at taking the offensive to Boko."  The Nigerian military had to retreat after encountering landmines and booby traps that killed three vigilantes working with the military, but continued its push after regrouping.
  On April 25, Boko Haram launched a counterattack on an island in Lake Chad.  Forty-six Nigeran soldiers and 28 civilians were killed in the attack.  After the attack, Niger recommended that the island of Lake Chad be evacuated.  By early May, more than 5,000 people had left the island towns and reached N'guigmi, Niger by foot.  An additional 11,500 evacuees were expected.
  A fresh push into Sambisa Forest by Nigerian forces began on April 27.  As the Nigerian army advanced into the forest, it began to free a large number of women and children held as hostages by Boko Haram.  On April 28, just under 300 hostages were freed.  It is unclear if the freed prisoners were captured in Boko Haram raids or if they were area residents. A firefight on April 29 killed over 400 Boko Haram insurgents, while freeing an undisclosed number of female captives.  One soldier was killed and four seriously injured in the battle. One woman was killed and eight injured.  On April 30, another 234 women and children were free from Boko Haram captivity as the military destroyed 13 Boko Haram camps.  In total, close to 700 hostages have been rescued.
  Freed captives had been subjected to forced labor, as well as sexual and physical abuse.   Some were forced to fight alongside Boko Haram rebels or were used as human shields.  According to initial reports, some of the captives were traumatized to the point where they fired upon their rescuers, believing the militants were "good people who had treated them well".  Others painted a different picture, saying their captors kept them indoors, brought out only when needed to retrieve food.  They were severely beaten and given only minimal food – rescued children were described as visibly malnourished by the press.  Other children had forgotten their own names.  Amnesty International African director Netsanet Belay remarked "The trauma suffered by the women and girls is truly horrific."  An aid worker described the captives as "not in great condition ...All of them are traumatized. They're hungry. They're sick." Of the first 275 captives, only 61 were over the age of 18; 214 were visibly pregnant.  None of them knew the location of the Chibok girls, but said militants who visited their camp had claimed the girls were sold or forced into polygamous marriages with militants.
  According to freed hostages, Boko Haram was running short of weapons as a result of the multinational offensive.  Frustrated by the lack of support from their leadership, militants were abandoning the hostages with minimal fight, or attempting to sell them for 2,000 naira (US$10) or less.  One hostage reported overhearing militants talking about how their leaders had deceived them into using violence.
caption: Hostages rescued during the offensive
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