A group of nearly 300 girls who were kidnapped from a school in north-western Nigeria last week have been released, a local official says.
The girls were abducted by unidentified gunmen from their boarding school in Jangebe, Zamfara state, on Friday and taken to a forest, police said.
The state’s governor said on Tuesday that the group had been freed and the girls were now safe.
Such kidnappings are carried out for ransom and are common in the north.
Dozens of the girls were seen gathered at a government building in Zamfara after they were taken there in a fleet of mini-buses.
“It gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students… from captivity,” Governor Bello Matawalle wrote on Twitter.
“This follows the scaling of several hurdles laid against our efforts,” he added. “I enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to rejoice with us as our daughters are now safe.”
