At least three women were killed when a landmine exploded while the Nigeria’s military tanks crushed others to their death, as the military moved in to rescue hostages from Boko Haram.    

According to the reports from VANGUARD,the deaths happened in the Islamists’ Sambisa Forest stronghold, from where soldiers have freed hundreds of women and children seized during the bloody insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast.

Binta Abdullahi, who was kidnapped from a village near Madagali, in the north of Adamawa, more than a year ago, described the hostages’ ordeal as the soldiers moved in.

“When the military stormed the camp where we were being held, our captors told us to take cover under trees and shrubs to avoid military shelling,” the 18-year-old told reporters in Yola.

“Some women who hid under trees were crushed by military tanks which mowed them down without knowing they were there.

“After soldiers subdued Boko Haram fighters and rescued us they loaded those too weak or sick to trek into vehicles and asked the rest of us to walk behind… to avoid stepping on land mines planted by Boko Haram all over the place.

“At least three women and some soldiers were killed when a mine exploded after a woman stepped on one.”