By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS
Nigerian authorities asserted on Thursday that it was too early to conclude that scores of schoolgirls abducted last year by Boko Haram were not among hundreds who were recently rescued from the Sambisa Forest, a Boko Haram stronghold in the country's restive northeastern region.
"The true identity of some of the rescued women and girls are yet to be ascertained," defense spokesman Chris Olukolade told a news briefing in capital Abuja.
"Until such comprehensive profiling is done, nobody can confirm whether they are among the Chibok girls or not," he told reporters.
This came hours after the army announced the liberation of at least 160 women and children from the Sambisa Forest.
On Tuesday, troops charging through Sambisa rescued 200 girls and 93 women.
The recent rescue has nourished hopes that the schoolgirls kidnapped last year may finally be freed.
One year ago, Boko Haram militants abducted 276 schoolgirls from Borno State's sleepy town of Chibok.
Only 57 of them have since escaped captivity, while 219 are still thought to be held by the militant group.
The Nigerian government, aided by some foreign governments, has continued to search for the girls, while carrying out general counterinsurgency operations in the country's northeastern region.
Army spokesman Sani Usman had told The Anadolu Agency that preliminary investigations had shown that the schoolgirls were not among the freed captives.
He added, however, that screening and profiling of the hostages was continuing.
Olukolade, the defense spokesman, said the freed hostages were now undergoing thorough profiling to verify their identities, where they came from, and how they found themselves in the forest.
"Whoever they may be, the important thing is that Nigerians held captive under very severe and inhuman condition have been freed by our gallant troops," he insisted.
"The joy and sense of hope being expressed by many Nigerians on hearing about the rescue operation is therefore understandable," said Olukolade.
"We would like to reassure them that the momentum of this operation will be sustained until the Sambisa Forest is comprehensively cleaned out and all Nigerians held captive within the bowels of the forest are rescued," he vowed.
The Nigerian military – backed by Nigerien and Chadian troops – recently liberated all territory captured earlier by Boko Haram in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
In the face of the government's recent onslaught, Boko Haram militants are believed to have retreated back into the forest.
The forest extends from Borno State into parts of Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe states – all in the northeast – and into parts of Jigawa State and elsewhere in the country's northwest.
