The army said on Thursday that Nigerian soldiers rescued a woman who was kidnapped by extremists almost a decade ago while she was a schoolgirl in the village of Chibok. Her three children were also rescued.

Additionally, Lydia Simon, who is five months pregnant, was rescued by Nigerian troops in the Gwoza council area of Borno state, where the insurgency by extremists has persisted for 15 years, according to a statement from the army.

The authorities did not immediately disclose the girl’s age, but she is likely in her twenties.

The statement included a photo of Simon and her children, who appear to be aged between 2 and 4 years, and they have not yet been reunited with her family.

Simon was among 276 girls kidnapped from their school in the village of Chibok in Nigeria in April 2014 at the height of extremist violence in the region, and around 82 of them are still in captivity.

The kidnapping of the Chibok girls was the first in a series of school abductions in the West African country, and the Chibok kidnapping shocked the world and sparked a global campaign on social media.

The Nigerian army did not say how she was released other than she was rescued in a hotspot known as Ngoshe, about 130 kilometers (74 miles) north of Borno state capital Maiduguri.

Some Chibok parents and security analysts said there is little evidence to suggest that there was a special military operation to free the women. Those who have returned in recent years were found in abandoned places in the forests.

Some recently freed women were raped by the rebels or forced into marriages, according to Chioma Agwugbu, an activist who was part of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

Agwugbu said, "We have heard their stories of how much trauma and violence they faced; a person who was abducted ten years ago is not the same person."

Villagers in Chibok joined Simon's family while waiting to be allowed to see her.

Yakubu Nkeki, head of the association of parents of the girls in Chibok, said, "The government has not told us anything (and) we are waiting for an official call."