A nursing mother and her baby boy who were captured during a violent terrorist raid on the Ngoshe community in Borno State have been freed by troops from the Joint Task Force (North-East), Operation Hadin Kai.
The rescued individuals, 20-year-old Maryam Muhammad and her 16-month-old son, Bello Muhammad, had been held since their abduction on March 3, 2026. Their liberation was part of a broader military campaign in the region that also resulted in the elimination of active terrorists and a wave of surrenders by insurgents’ relatives.
According to military officials, the success of the mission highlights the intensifying pressure being applied to insurgent hideouts throughout the North-East, particularly along border towns and within the Mandara Mountains.
The details were confirmed on Thursday in an official statement released to News Point Nigeria by Lieutenant Colonel Sani Uba, the Media Information Officer for Operation Hadin Kai.
The report noted that troops executing offensive maneuvers under Operation Desert Sanity V/Siege Operation in the Amuda area cut off and saved the captives after continuous bombardments weakened the hold of their captors.
“In a major humanitarian breakthrough, troops of OPHK, while conducting offensive operations in the Amuda general area, successfully intercepted and rescued two abductees from the Ngoshe community,” the statement read.
Initial debriefings indicated that the mother and child were being held deep inside a terrorist camp in the Mandara Mountains. They managed to break free after heavy military artillery fire forced the insurgents to retreat from their positions.
Following their rescue, both victims received medical evaluations before being reunited with their families through local Ngoshe community leaders.
Discoveries in the Field and Increased Surrenders
In a separate but connected push, troops from Operation Hadin Kai stationed in Wulgo and the proposed Combat Outpost (COP) Jagarawaji joined forces with the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF).
Together, they launched synchronized raids across the Hausari, Gumsari, and Wulgo communities.
During these searches, troops uncovered significant evidence of insurgent logistics, including makeshift clinics stocked with antibiotics and blood transfusion equipment. They also recovered ammunition and a uniform linked to an “Amir,” a local terrorist commander. One insurgent was killed during the confrontation, while the military reported no casualties among its personnel.
Concurrently, a growing number of insurgents’ family members are reportedly abandoning their camps to surrender to authorities, citing a severe degradation of the terrorists’ operational capacity.
Among those fleeing was 50-year-old Ghwa’a Biwa, who left a Mandara Mountains camp to give herself up to the 192 Battalion in the Gwoza sector.
Military officials noted that she blamed her departure on the continuous military bombardment and the rapidly deteriorating conditions in the camps, which included a lack of food and basic supplies.
Similarly, 19-year-old Binta Umaru and her two-year-old daughter, Hafsat Ibrahim, escaped from another mountain enclave and surrendered to troops stationed on the Gwoza-Limankara Road.
Moving Forward
The military stated that all individuals who surrendered have been processed, documented, and taken into custody for further profiling under standard protocols.
Operation Hadin Kai emphasized that these recent milestones validate the effectiveness of their strategy to crush terrorist supply chains, free innocent civilians, and bring stability back to areas impacted by the insurgency.
The Joint Task Force reiterated its pledge to keep the pressure on armed groups while ramping up rescue efforts to bring lasting peace, security, and economic revival to the North-East. Additionally, the Military High Command praised the frontline troops for their results and urged them to maintain their momentum for national security.
