Alice Loksha, a Nigerian nurse working for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has escaped after being held captive by terrorists for six years.
Loksha was abducted on March 1, 2018, by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) during a deadly raid on a camp housing 60,000 displaced people in North-East Nigeria.
The attack resulted in the deaths of three UNICEF health workers, eight soldiers, and the kidnapping of Loksha alongside two Nigerian midwives working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
While the ICRC workers were later executed, Loksha survived and was reportedly forced into two marriages, as well as subjected to abuse due to her Christian faith.
“She was kidnapped on March 1, 2018, when the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorist group staged a deadly raid on a camp housing 60,000 displaced people.
Three UNICEF health workers and eight soldiers were killed in the attack. Loksha was kidnapped along with two Nigerian midwives — Saifura Khorsa and Hauwa Liman — who had been working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The ICRC workers were later killed, with ISWAP terrorists saying they killed the midwives because they were Muslims who ‘should have known the consequences of working for international agencies.’
Loksha was spared and turned into a sex slave because she is Christian, reports say.”
Loksha managed to escape on October 24, 2024, from a terrorist camp in Dogon Chukwu Island in Lake Chad. Major General Kenneth Chigbu of the Nigerian army confirmed that she contacted troops in Geidam, Yobe State, five days later to report her escape.
Despite her freedom, Loksha faces a complex situation. “We have a delicate situation in our hands because her husband had remarried after her kidnap, thinking she was already dead, and now here she is with another man’s child,” a UN source stated.
