MAIDUGURI, Nigeria 

At least nine of the over 200 internally displaced persons (IDPs) kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist organization in Nigeria's volatile northeast region have been freed, officials said on Monday.

The nine people, all women, and girls, were seen at the Ngala IDP camp in northeast Borno, near the border with Cameroon, where they were abducted on Feb. 29, Barkindo Saidu, head of the state Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said.

"The emergency management agency staff at the IDP camp reported that nine people have returned. They are seen at the IDP camp," Saidu told Anadolu on Monday.

Over 200 women, girls, and boys, who had left their IDPs camp in search of firewood in Ngala, northeast Borno, were kidnapped by militants of Boko Haram, a terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria that is also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali.

In recent years, kidnapping and banditry have increased significantly in the western African country. Approximately 430 people, mostly women and schoolchildren, have been kidnapped in the country's northern region in the last two weeks.

Abubakar Boyi Sifawa, a senior researcher on behavioral patterns and security at the Shehu Shagari University of Education in northwest Sokoto State, blamed the country's escalation of kidnapping and banditry on economic hardship, poverty, and a lack of coordination among security agencies.

"According to my findings, unfortunately, many young people are now joining kidnapping gangs and informants due to economic hardship. They are desperate for survival due to poverty, and they resort to violent groups after collecting ransoms," he told Anadolu.