A released Chibok girl (R) hugs her relative in Abuja, Nigeria, May 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Olatunji Obasa)

ABUJA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- At least 4,000 people in terror group Boko Haram's captivity have so far been rescued by Nigerian government forces, the country's minister of defense has said.

Mansur Dan-Ali, while addressing a summit in the Nigerian city of Jos, said those freed included 106 of the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok community of the northeastern state of Borno in 2014.

The freed hostages mostly included women and children, he noted.

According to Dan-Ali, the combined efforts of the armed forces had successfully degraded the Boko Haram fighters, making it difficult for them to regroup and carry out organized attacks in the volatile northeast region.

Boko Haram is blamed for thousands of deaths and displacement of 2.3 million people since 2009.

Troops dislodged the terror group members from Sambisa Forest, their largest training camp in the northern Borno State, last December.

The government forces are intensifying aerial and ground patrols in the country's northeast.