Abducted Cameroonians, including the wife of one of Cameroon’s deputy prime ministers, shared their experiences during their stay with the Islamist since their abduction in July during two simultaneous assaults, blamed on Boko Haram, in which at least 15 people died.

Abdouraman Seini, among the released hostages who survived a gunshot to his hand, told VOA that he and the other captives were forced to eat whatever was provided and most times went for days without water to drink. He said they lived in miserable conditions and that they were tortured by men armed with knives and guns, adding that “Freedom is a good thing, I pray such a thing never happens to anyone.”

Abdouraman Seini added that he did not see any of the more than 200 girls from Chibok, Nigeria that Boko Haram claimed responsibility for kidnapping in April. According to him “women are separated from men in the various detention camps run by the militants in the bush”.

Seini also told VOA he believes it is very likely Boko Haram fighters will continue their attacks because they are running out of food for the hundreds of fighters and the hundreds of captives they have.

One of the released Cameroonians, Seiny Boukar Lamine, told state radio, “we were in these sort of huts in a pretty dense forest, it was in a savannah with big trees and a lot of brush. We slept on the ground”. He said he was held with his wife and six children.