Boko haram drew international attention with the abduction of 300 schoolgirls.
Nigerian soldiers report having rescued 71 captives this past week from the clutch of Boko Haram insurgents in the country's northeast.
The soldiers rescued 12 people on Wednesday and 59 on Thursday, mostly women and children, from villages about 25 miles from Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast.
Some hostages report having been held captive by the Islamic extremist group for almost a year, according to Associated Press.
Soldiers also cleared 3 insurgent camps, according to Sani Usman, a colonel and army spokesman.
"As part of efforts to rid Nigeria of Boko Haram terrorists, troops of 21 Brigade and elements of Nigerian army engineers yesterday cleared a notorious terrorists camp at Chuogori and Shantumari, Borno State," he told Cable Newspaper, an online newspaper based in Africa.
Boko Haram is the Islamic group that drew international attention with the abduction of 300 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, Borno State in April 2014.
