Nigerian army says it has rescued 200 girls in forest

World Today

FILE – This Monday, May 12, 2014, file image taken from video by Nigeria’s Boko Haram terrorist network, shows the alleged missing girls abducted from the northeastern town of Chibok. On the first anniversary of the kidnapping by Islamic extremists of hundreds of girls from a school in northeast Nigeria, President-elect Muhammadu Buhari said Tuesday, April 14, 2015, that he cannot promise to find the 219 who are still missing. A year after the April 14-15, 2014, mass abduction at a school in Chibok. (AP Photo)

LAGOS, Nigeria — The Nigerian army says that it has rescued 200 girls and 93 women in the Sambisa Forest. Officials initially could not confirm if any of those freed are the schoolgirls kidnapped a year ago, but an army spokesman told the Associated press that they were not the same girls abducted from Chibok.

The army announced the rescue on Twitter Tuesday and said it is now screening and profiling the girls and women.

More than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped from Chibok in northeastern Nigeria by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram in April 2014. The militants took the schoolgirls in trucks into the Sambisa Forest and the girls have been missing since. The plight of the schoolgirls has garnered international attention and the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

The Nigerian army announced two weeks ago that it is going into Sambisa Forest, which is a center for the Boko Haram fighters.