Nigerian army says Chibok schoolgirl abducted by Boko Haram rescued

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After more than two years of captivity, one of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls has been rescued – the first to gain freedom since the early days after the mass abduction that shocked the world.

The schoolgirl, identified as 19-year-old Amina Ali, was found during a patrol by soldiers and civilian militiamen on the edge of the Sambisa forest, a hideout of Boko Haram militants in northeastern Nigeria.

She was with a group of women in the forest when she was spotted by an "eagle-eyed local hunter" who was with the civilian volunteers, according to a Nigerian newspaper. The hunter was from Chibok and knew her parents, the report said.

She was later hugged joyfully by her mother, reports said, and then was taken away for medical checks.

Ms. Ali is the first of the estimated 219 abducted schoolgirls to be rescued in their 25 months of captivity. But six other schoolgirls have died during their captivity, according to a Chibok community leader who reported the rescue on Wednesday.

After earlier giving a different name for the rescued woman, the Nigerian military later confirmed that her name was Amina Ali, the same name reported by Chibok community leaders and activists. The activists said her full name is Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki, though she was registered at the school as Amina Ali.

An army spokesman said Ms. Ali was rescued with her four-month-old baby, named Safiyah, and that she was with a man who claimed to be her husband. The man was suspected of being a Boko Haram member, the spokesman said.

The young woman and her baby were found near the village of Baale and were brought to a military base at the nearby town of Damboa and then to the city of Maiduguri for medical attention, the spokesman said. The army released a photo of the woman and her child, showing them apparently healthy.

As many as 276 schoolgirls were abducted from their school in the town of Chibok in April, 2014, although more than 50 quickly escaped. The abduction led to global outrage and an outpouring of support from world leaders and human-rights groups. American and British military personnel and equipment were sent to Nigeria to assist with the search.

Tsambido Hosea Abana, a community leader from Chibok, said on his Twitter account that the abducted schoolgirl was found on the edge of the Sambisa forest by the civilian militia volunteers while they were patrolling the area. He said the young woman may have been gathering firewood when she was found.

Six other Chibok schoolgirls have died, while the rest are still being heavily guarded by Boko Haram in an area too deep in the forest for the Nigerian military to reach, Mr. Abana said.

While the Chibok case has captured global headlines, the Chibok students are far from the only ones to be kidnapped. About 2,000 civilians have been abducted by Boko Haram in recent years, including about 400 abducted in 2015 from the remote Nigerian town of Damasak, human-rights groups say.

Critics have said the Nigerian military failed to make enough efforts to search for the Chibok schoolgirls and the other abducted civilians.

An activist group, Bring Back Our Girls, said the rescued schoolgirl was number 127 on its list of 219 abducted girls.

A spokesman for the activist group, quoting the chairman of the association of parents of the Chibok students, said the young woman was identified by the school's vice-principal and spoke to her mother, the group said in a statement.

"She provided useful information that her other classmates are still held under heavy terrorist captivity in the Sambisa forest area," the group said.

Last month, a "proof of life" video emerged, showing 15 of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls. Parents confirmed the identities of their daughters in the video, which was apparently produced by a Boko Haram faction in an attempt to negotiate a multimillion-dollar ransom.

Many analysts believe the Chibok schoolgirls have been scattered across various Boko Haram factions and cells in remote regions of northeastern Nigeria and perhaps across the border in neighbouring countries, making them difficult to rescue.

Oby Ezekwesili, a co-founder of the Bring Back Our Girls movement, said the freeing of Ms. Ali will provide "fantastic intelligence" to help locate and rescue the remaining Chibok schoolgirls in the Sambisa forest.

At their daily vigil for the abducted schoolgirls in Abuja, activists celebrated the rescue of Ms. Ali by cheering ecstatically. "It's no longer 219, it's 218," they shouted.