Security operatives rescue five aid workers kidnapped by Boko Haram last month in Borno State

DEPARTMENT of State Security (DSS) operatives have successfully rescued five aid workers who were kidnapped and held captive by the Boko Haram otherwise known as the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap).

On December 22 last year, Boko Haram abducted the aid workers along the Monguno-Maiduguri Road in Borno State. yesterday, however, security forces led by the DSS in conjunction with the Ninth Mechanised Brigade of the Nigerian Army mounted an operation to free them and succeeded in carrying out the rescue without any harm coming to the victims.

Those rescued include Jennifer Samuel from the Alliance for International Medical Action, Asabe Cletus from the Alliance for International Medical Action, Adamu Auwal, Arthur Ibojekwe from the Solidarity International and George Danbaba from the International Organisation for Migration. DSS spokesman Peter Afunaya, said that the aid workers are in good health and are being debriefed.

Boko Haram has been waging a war against the Nigerian state since 2009 as it seeks to create a pyre Islamic theocracy in the northwest of the country. of late, it has been significantly degraded but still exists in pockets of Borno State where it carries out sporadic raids and abducts villagers.