Abuja, April 29 (RHC)-- Around 300 women and girls have been rescued from a Boko Haram Takfiri militant stronghold in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, the military says.

"Troops have this afternoon captured and destroyed three camps of terrorists inside the Sambisa Forest and rescued 200 girls and 93 women," AFP quoted military spokesman Chris Olukolade as saying on Tuesday.

It has not been verified if the rescued are the same "Chibok girls" who were kidnapped last year, he said adding, "The freed persons are now being screened and profiled." The spokesman did not specify when the rescued hostages' identification would be completed.

On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram militants abducted 276 girls from a secondary school in Chibok in Borno state. Fifty-seven of the girls managed to escape but 219 remained in captivity, reportedly in the Sambisa Forest. Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, said he would "marry them off" or sell them as "slaves."