Nigerian governor says 279 kidnapped schoolgirls are freed

 Tuesday, March 02, 2021

Students who were abducted by gunmen from the
 Government Girls Secondary School, in Jangebe, last week
 are seen after their release meeting with the state Governor
 Bello Matawalle, in Gusau, northern Nigeria,
 Tuesday, March 2, 2021. (Photo: AP)

GUSAU, Nigeria (AP) — Hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls abducted last week from a boarding school in the northwestern Zamfara state have been released, the state's governor said Tuesday.

Zamfara state governor Bello Matawalle announced that 279 girls have been freed. The government last week said 317 had been kidnapped.

Gunmen abducted the girls from the Government Girls Junior Secondary School in Jangebe town on Friday, in the latest in a series of mass kidnappings of students in the West African nation.

An Associated Press reporter saw hundreds of girls dressed in light blue hijabs and barefoot sitting at the state Government House office in Gusau.

After the meeting, the girls were escorted outside by officials and lined up to be taken away in vans. They appeared calm and ranged in ages from 10 and up.