Boko Haram frees Nigerian captives

More than 150 women and children who were kidnapped on Jan. 6 from the Nigerian village of Katarko by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram were released on Jan. 24. The captives all were reported to be unharmed and had not been assaulted.

A local security official said that the militants holding the women and children had come under attack by security forces and retreated without their captives, but there were also reports that the militants gave them up peacefully. 

More than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in April 2014 are still missing.

Boko Haram controls much of the northeastern areas of Nigeria and has recently made incursions into neighboring Cameroon, but a coalition of Nigerian, Cameroonian, Chadian and Nigerien armed forces formed in early February has begun to reclaim towns from the group.