Nigeria kidnap victims recover after 308 freed

Nigeria kidnap victims, including children and women, are being treated in Ilorin after 308 people were freed in August in what the government called a major single-day rescue operation.

The hospital patients were among 163 kidnapping victims rescued in the Kainji Lake National Park forest after Woro, a village near the border with Benin, was attacked by suspected jihadists in February. The attack killed at least 165 people and led to scores of abductions.

At Kwara State University Teaching Hospital, doctors and nurses were caring for survivors who had spent six months in captivity. Ahmed Bola Abdulkadir, the hospital's chief medical director, said many arrived with severe malnutrition, skin diseases, fractures and psychological trauma. A nurse said the patients were responding to treatment, although some still needed blood.

Woro village head Umar Bio Salihu said the captives were held with more than 100 people seized from Kasuwan Daji and Konkoso in Niger state. He said 13 people from Woro died in captivity and 13 others remained held.

Survivors said captives were fed a porridge-like meal and a soup made from river water and salt. Amira Salihu, a 25-year-old nurse and daughter of the village head, said people 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 bandit groups in the north and centre. Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence has described kidnapping in the country as a multi-million-dollar industry.