Frail and malnourished women and children lay across rows of hospital beds, their weakened bodies showing the physical toll of six months held captive in Nigeria’s remote bush.
They were among 163 kidnapping victims rescued in August from the forests of Kainji Lake National Park after suspected terrorists attacked their village of Woro.
In all, 308 people were freed in what the government called the country’s largest single-day rescue operation. At Kwara State University Teaching Hospital in Ilorin, however, the ordeal was far from over as survivors began the long road to recovery.
A general view of the entrance to the Kwara State University Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria, Aug. 11, 2026. (AFP Photo)
A child lay motionless beneath a blue sheet, connected to a respirator as doctors and nurses gathered around the bed.
