Nigeria moves girls rescued from Boko Haram, won't say where

Nigeria's military says it is moving 200 girls and 93 women from a northeastern forest where they were rescued from Boko Haram extremists.

Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman says many are traumatized. He says the military on Wednesday is flying in medical and intelligence teams to establish their psychological and physical health.

He says they started evacuating them from the Sambisa Forest on Tuesday but would not say to where.

• Nigeria says hundreds of girls rescued from Boko Haram

Military operations continue in the forest where it was announced Tuesday the women and girls were rescued while troops were destroying four Boko Haram camps.

An intelligence officer and a soldier say Boko Haram used some of the women as armed human shields, a first line of defence who fired at troops. They demanded anonymity because the issue is sensitive.

Nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped from Chibok in northeastern Nigeria by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram in April 2014. The militants took the schoolgirls in trucks into the Sambisa Forest. Dozens escaped on their own but 219 remain missing.

The plight of the schoolgirls, who have become known as "the Chibok girls," has garnered international attention and the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

Sex slaves, fighters

Their kidnapping brought Boko Haram to the attention of the world, arousing outrage and even U.S. first lady Michelle Obama got engaged, tweeting a photograph of herself with the campaign sign.

The Nigerian army announced two weeks ago that it would go into Sambisa Forest, which is a centre for the Boko Haram fighters, and that it believed the schoolgirls might still be there.

Boko Haram has kidnapped an unknown number of girls, women and young men to be used as sex slaves and fighters. Many have escaped or been released as a multinational offensive mounted at the end of January has driven Nigeria's home-grown Islamic militants from almost all towns of the northeast.

The only area left in control of Boko Haram was the Sambisa Forest, a national game reserve.