LAGOS, Nigeria, May 21 – Nigeria said on Tuesday it would free a number of detained Islamist suspects, including all female ones, in what a senior security source called a move to build popular support for its offensive against Boko Haram militants entrenched in the north.

LAGOS, Nigeria, May 21 – Nigeria said on Tuesday it would free a number of detained Islamists, including all female ones, in what a senior security source called a move to build popular support for its offensive against Boko Haram militants entrenched in the north.