Nigeria kidnap victims describe captivity after 308 freed

Nigerian kidnap victims rescued from forest captivity are being treated for severe malnutrition, injuries and trauma after 308 people were freed this month in what the government called the largest single-day rescue operation.

The patients at Kwara State University Teaching Hospital in Ilorin included children and women among 163 people rescued in the Kainji Lake National Park forest. They had been held after suspected jihadists attacked Woro, near Nigeria's border with Benin, in February.

Hospital chief medical director Ahmed Bola Abdulkadir said many arrived in poor condition, with severe malnutrition, skin diseases and fractures, and that some mothers had recently given birth. He said many also needed care for psychological trauma.

A victim identified as Hajara said the captives had been fed a thick guinea corn meal and a soup made from river water and salt. “I do not wish that on even my enemies,” she said.

Woro village head Umar Bio Salihu said the rescued villagers had been held with more than 100 other people seized from Kasuwan Daji, Konkoso and other villages. He said 13 people from Woro died in captivity and 13 others remain held.

Amira Salihu, a 25-year-old nurse whose two brothers were killed in the February attack, said captives were beaten if they relieved themselves without permission. She said more than a dozen women went into labour while held, and that she helped deliver babies by torchlight.

Abductions have become a major source of money for criminal groups in Nigeria, including jihadist and non-ideological bandit groups across the north and centre of the country.