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A Nigerian senator from restive northeast Borno State has confirmed the rescue of about 1,000 women and children by the military recently in the region.
The women and children were rescued from villages occupied by the Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State, Senator Ali Ndume told reporters in Abuja, Nigeria's capital city on Thursday.
The senator expressed optimism that the activities of Boko Haram would soon become a thing of the past.
"We are very hopeful that sooner than later, that the issue of Boko Haram we will put it behind and concentrate on reconstruction and rehabilitation and even reconciliation," he added.
"What is remaining virtually is cleaning up the Sambisa base of the Boko Haram and then cleaning up the roads, access roads going to various villages that I understand have been polluted with Land Mines," he said.
According to the senator, most of the towns have been completely destroyed.
"My house has been burnt down completely," the senator told reporters.
Nigerian troops have been rescuing women and children from Boko Haram's stronghold in the Sambisa forest.
Boko Haram has grown from a small but lethal insurgency in northeastern Nigeria to an out-of-control force that is slaughtering thousands and threatening the region's stability in its battle to establish an Islamic state.
The International Organization for Migration said in January that the number of Nigeria's displaced people may have reached or even topped the 1 million mark. Enditem
