Abuja:The Nigerian government announced the release of more than 300 kidnapping victims Wednesday, including 163 taken from a single village in the west of the country earlier this year. In February, suspected jihadists attacked the village of Woro, Kwara state, near the border with Benin, killing more than 150 people and kidnapping roughly the same amount. Sprawling, often sparsely governed forests and reserves across the country have turned into hideouts for Nigerian criminal groups. Media reports had put the number of those kidnapped at 176 -- though as recently as Friday the police in Kwara state said that number was unsubstantiated. A few months before, the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil in the state, near Woro.