Nigerian security forces rescued 308 people who had been abducted in separate attacks in Niger and Kwara states, in what President Bola Tinubu's office described as the country's largest-ever single-day rescue operation.
According to NBC News, the freed captives included 163 people taken in February when gunmen attacked the Woro community. The remainder were seized in other, separate kidnappings across the two states.
RTÉ reported that Tinubu's office hailed the operation as a milestone in the fight against the mass abductions that have plagued parts of Nigeria, where armed groups have repeatedly targeted villages, schools and travelers for ransom.
Kidnapping for ransom has become endemic in parts of northern and central Nigeria in recent years, with criminal gangs and armed groups often holding large numbers of victims for months at a time while negotiating payment or evading security forces. Mass abductions of the scale seen in the Woro attack have repeatedly drawn national and international attention to the government's ability to protect rural communities.
Details on the exact security operation that led to the rescues, including whether ransoms were paid or victims were freed through force, were not immediately disclosed. The scale of the release — more than 300 people in a single day — sets it apart from previous rescues, which have typically involved smaller numbers of captives recovered over extended periods. The Woro community abduction in February had drawn particular attention because of the number of people seized in a single raid, and the captives' return after roughly six months in captivity marks one of the longer periods of confinement resolved through a single operation.
Nigerian authorities have not said whether those responsible for the abductions have been captured, and it remains unclear what security measures, if any, will follow to prevent similar mass kidnappings in the affected states.