The Nigerian military said on Wednesday it had carried out several successful raids on camps belonging to the terror group Boko Haram, rescuing 338 captives in the process.

The raids were apparently conducted on Tuesday on the outskirts of the Sambisa Forest, a Boko Haram stronghold. The Defense Headquarters took to Twitter to trumpet its victory.

Government forces said the majority of the captives were women and children. They claimed that 30 Boko Haram militants were killed in the raid.

In addition, they announced a separate raid that killed four militants on a suicide bombing mission.

"The successful clearance operations and ambushing of the terrorists has further degraded them and saved the lives of so many innocent victims of their suicide bombings," the army said in a statement on its website.

Ongoing violence

The Islamic State-affiliated Boko Haram seeks to create a caliphate in West Africa and is responsible for the thousands of terrorist-related deaths in the northern part of Nigeria.

Most recently, the group has been blamed for a suicide attack that killed at least 37 and wounded 107 in the states of Borno and Adamawa last week.

In addition, some 2.3 million people have been displaced due to attacks launched by Boko Haram.

blc/jil (AP, Reuters)