Nigeria has freed another 234 women and children from the Sambisa forest, considered a bastion of armed group Boko Haram, the military has said.
The defence headquarters said in a statement on social media website Twitter on Friday that the hostages were rescued on Thursday in the Kawuri and Konduga end of the forest located in the country's north east neighbouring Chad.
The army released the first photos of what it said were some of the hundreds of women and children that troops freed earlier this week in the Sambisa Forest amid heavy combat with Boko Haram.
President Goodluck Jonathan, whose term ends this month, said Thursday that the Sambisa Forest is the last refuge for the Islamic group and he pledged to "hand over a Nigeria completely free of terrorist strongholds."
The military said it is screening the girls and women to find out what villages they came from.
Some women the soldiers tried to rescue shot at their rescuers, a military spokesman has said, indicating that some might now identify with Boko Haram after months of captivity and forced marriages.
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