--- description: The daring escape comes after days of heavy fighting in northeast Nigeria title: Report: More Than 60 Nigeria Girls Escape Boko Haram 'Captors' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2339e2f206f26b92/69869aa0f983e7462c04eb1e/451560198.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Report: More Than 60 Nigerian Girls Escape Boko Haram Captors by [Stephanie Burnett](/author/stephanie-burnett/) ## Stephanie Burnett Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 7, 2014 6:47 AM CUT  People gather near burned vehicles by the crowded Monday Market in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on July 1, 2014 People gather near burned vehicles by the crowded Monday Market in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on July 1, 2014AFP—Getty Images by [Stephanie Burnett](/author/stephanie-burnett/) ## Stephanie Burnett Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 7, 2014 6:47 AM CUT More than 60 girls and women kidnapped in northeast Nigeria last month by suspected Islamist militant group Boko Haram have reportedly [fled](http://news.yahoo.com/more-60-women-girls-escape-islamist-abductors-nigeria-221402703.html;%5Fylt=AwrBJR4By7lTtkUA5OfQtDMD "undefined") their captors. Their escape was confirmed to news agency AFP by a high-level though unnamed security source in the restive Borno state. A local vigilante, Abbas Gava, also said he had “received an alert from my colleagues … that about 63 of the abducted women and girls had made it back home.” More than 200 schoolgirls abducted in April are still being held by Boko Haram, which seeks to establish a fundamentalist Islamic state in the country’s north. The development follows Friday’s clashes between Nigerian soldiers and Boko Haram militants in Borno. At least 50 insurgents were killed as the Nigerian military repelled an attack on its military base in the town of Damboa, said the Defense Ministry on Saturday. Six Nigerian soldiers, including the commanding officer, died during the fighting, said Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Chris Olukolade. An officer who requested anonymity [told](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/nigeria-soldiers-repel-attack-military-base "undefined") the AP that the raid appeared to be a reprisal attack by Boko Haram after the Nigerian military carried out devastating air strikes 24 hours earlier. \[[_AFP_](http://news.yahoo.com/more-60-women-girls-escape-islamist-abductors-nigeria-221402703.html;%5Fylt=AwrBJR4By7lTtkUA5OfQtDMD "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2960944/report-more-than-60-nigerian-girls-escape-boko-haram-captors/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2960944/report-more-than-60-nigerian-girls-escape-boko-haram-captors/"},"headline":"Report: More Than 60 Nigerian Girls Escape Boko Haram Captors","datePublished":"2014-07-07T06:47:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:59:33.530Z","description":"The daring escape comes after days of heavy fighting in northeast Nigeria","url":"https://time.com/2960944/report-more-than-60-nigerian-girls-escape-boko-haram-captors/","keywords":["Africa","Nigeria","Boko Haram"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2339e2f206f26b92/69869aa0f983e7462c04eb1e/451560198.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephanie Burnett","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/stephanie-burnett/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2339e2f206f26b92/69869aa0f983e7462c04eb1e/451560198.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NIGERIA-UNREST-BLAST","caption":"NIGERIA-UNREST-BLAST","creditText":"AFP—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2960944/report-more-than-60-nigerian-girls-escape-boko-haram-captors/","name":"Report: More Than 60 Nigerian Girls Escape Boko Haram Captors"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Boko Haram Abduction and Terror","description":"Boko Haram claims responsibility for the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian school girls, which has sprung a global movement calling for their release.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aONwMaQI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-05-06T16:46:43.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aONwMaQI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/2960944/report-more-than-60-nigerian-girls-escape-boko-haram-captors/","duration":"PT1M34S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/2960944/report-more-than-60-nigerian-girls-escape-boko-haram-captors/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```