Nigeria's military rescued 234 more girls and women from a Boko Haram forest stronghold in the country's northeast, an announcement on social media said Saturday, May 2, according to the Associated Press.

It brings the number of females declared rescued this week to more than 677.

"FLASH: Another set of 234 women and children were rescued through the Kawuri and Konduga end of the #Sambisa Forest on Thursday," said a message on the official Twitter account of the Nigerian Defense Headquarters posted early Saturday.

It comes as the army deployed ground troops following weeks of punishing air raids on the Sambisa Forest.

President Goodluck Jonathan, whose term ends this month, said Thursday that the forest is the last holdout of the Islamic militants and he pledged to "hand over a Nigeria completely free of terrorist strongholds."

It is not known how many girls, women, boys and men Boko Haram has kidnapped during its nearly 6-year-old rebellion. Nigeria's army has reported rescuing only females.