Abuja, May 7 (IANS): A Nigerian senator from the restive northeastern Borno state has confirmed the rescue of about 1,000 women and children by the military in the region.

The women and children were rescued from villages occupied by the Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State, Xinhua news agency cited Senator Ali Ndume as telling reporters in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, on Thursday.

The senator expressed optimism that the activities of Boko Haram would soon become a thing of the past.

"We are very hopeful that sooner than later, the issue of Boko Haram will be put behind and and we can concentrate on reconstruction and rehabilitation and even reconciliation," he added.

"What is remaining virtually is cleaning up the Sambisa base of the Boko Haram and then cleaning up the roads, access roads going to various villages that I understand have been planted with landmines," he said.

According to the senator, most of the towns have been completely destroyed.

"My house has been burnt down completely," the senator told reporters.

Nigerian troops have been rescuing women and children from Boko Haram's stronghold in the Sambisa forest.

Boko Haram has grown from a small but lethal insurgency in northeastern Nigeria to an out-of-control force that is slaughtering thousands and threatening the region's stability in its battle to establish an Islamic state.

The International Organisation for Migration said in January that the number of Nigeria's displaced people may have reached or even topped the one million mark.