New Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected in May 2015 on the promise to defeat Boko Haram, the agressive Islamist group, has ordered the military to end the insurgency by force.

Until now 17,000 people had been killed and 2.5 million relocated mainly in the north of Nigeria.

Nigerian troops have now rescued 338 hostages of the Islamist radical group Boko Haram in a raid on the villages of Bulajilin and Manawashin in the Sambisa forest in northeastern Nigeria October 28, 2015. 138 women and 192 children are free now.

“The successful clearance operations and ambushing of terrorists has further degraded them and saved the lives of so many innocent victims of their suicide bombings,” a Nigerian Army spokesman said.

The weekend before, 61 people were killed in Boko Haram bombings of two mosques in the cities of Yolo and Maiduguri.