Nairobi: Sixty three women abducted two weeks ago by Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram are reported to have escaped from their captors in the northeastern state of Borno, security sources said on Monday.

The women ran away after the militants went to fight Nigerian military forces near the city of Damboa on last Friday leaving the hostages with only a few guards and giving them the chance to flee while they were sleeping, a local security source said. The Boko Haram kidnapped 90 people, including more than 60 women and girls, between June 19 and 22 from Damboa, 150 km from the capital of Borno, Maiduguri.