Troops Intercept Members Of Boko Haram Families Fleeing Sambisa Forest

The Nigerian Army on Wednesday said troops in the early hours of today sighted a group of persons at Liwanti village, along Damboa-Bulabulin road in Borno State.
The troops, who were drawn from the 81 Battalion and 251 Task Force Battalion deployed at an observation post, received and treated the group humanely based on International Humanitarian Laws and Rules of Engagement.
Upon preliminary investigation, the troops discovered that 69 persons in the group were indeed family members of Boko Haram insurgents escaping from Sambisa Forest.
“Out of that number, seven of them are men, 18 women, seven grown up boys and 37 children”, the Army said in a statement issued in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
The statement pointed out that at the initial stage of interrogation, these group of persons claimed to have escaped from Boko Haram captivity at Ngwalimari village in Sambisa forest general area but further interrogation proved this particular claim to be false.

“The troops recovered 15 bicycles, 5 Dane Guns and other personal effects from them and further/thorough investigation is ongoing to ascertain other information from them”, it added.