Twelve young women who were kidnapped a week ago in Nigeria’s troubled Borno State have been released, a local official confirmed late Saturday. Their freedom comes during a worrying rise in abductions across the country, especially targeting young people in rural areas.
Abubakar Mazhinyi, president of the Askira-Uba local council, told AFP that all 12 girls were safely released and taken to hospital for medical checks. He explained that the kidnappers — believed to be jihadists — communicated directly with the victims’ parents, who later traveled into the bush to retrieve their daughters.
The group of 13 women and girls, aged 16 to 23, had been kidnapped near their farms close to a nature reserve long used as a hideout by extremists. One woman was released earlier after telling her captors that she was caring for a newborn baby.
According to Mazhinyi, no ransom was paid. The kidnappers freed the girls because the Nigerian army was closing in on their location.
Borno State has been the centre of Nigeria’s 16-year conflict with Boko Haram and its rival faction, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Although their power has weakened over the years, both groups continue to carry out attacks and kidnappings.
The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced over two million, according to the United Nations.
The region is no stranger to mass abductions — it is where Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls from Chibok in 2014, an event that shocked the world.
But the violence is now spreading beyond the northeast.
Just last week, more than 300 children were kidnapped from a Catholic school in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. While some managed to escape, at least 265 children and teachers remain missing. Authorities say these kidnappings were carried out by criminal gangs — known locally as bandits — who often target poorly protected rural communities for ransom.
Nigeria has long struggled with mass abductions, with both jihadist groups and criminal gangs exploiting weak security systems, poverty, and lack of government presence in remote areas.
As the 12 rescued girls receive treatment and reunite with their families, the country remains anxious about the growing wave of kidnappings and the safety of hundreds of others still in captivity.
