Nigerian army rescues 26 aid workers from Boko Haram

By Adam Abu-bashal

ABUJA, Nigeria (AA) – The Nigerian military has rescued 26 humanitarian aid workers who were abducted by Boko Haram terrorists in the country’s northeast, local media reported.

Members of Boko Haram stormed the town of Dikwa in Borno State on Monday around 6:30 p.m.

Following the attack, the army launched an operation against the terrorists.

During the operation, 20 male and six female aid workers abducted by the group were rescued and handed over to the government in Maiduguri, the capital and largest city of Borno.

Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread its atrocities to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military response.

More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram's terrorist activities in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Violence committed by Boko Haram has affected some 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency.