The widow of a slain Nigerian general has been freed by the Nigerian Army in a dawn raid in northeastern Borno State, ending a 10-day captivity that drew international condemnation. Military sources confirmed that Mrs. Fatima Mohammed, 42, was rescued without casualties from a compound near the Sambisa Forest, a stronghold of the Islamist insurgency Boko Haram.
Her husband, Brigadier General Usman Mohammed, was killed in a roadside ambush last month. The rescue operation, codenamed Operation Desert Sanity, involved 120 troops and was supported by intelligence from British and US surveillance drones. British aid agencies, including the UK Department for International Development, praised the operation as a model of regional security cooperation.
The rescue comes amid a broader effort by the Nigerian government to secure the release of over 200 Chibok schoolgirls abducted in 2014. Mrs. Mohammed is receiving medical treatment at a military hospital in Maiduguri; her condition is stable.
