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More than 300 schoolchildren kidnapped by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram in northern Nigeria are free again, according to a report on state television. 344 students are in the care of security authorities, Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari said Thursday. However, it was not clear whether all the students were released or some of them were still in the hands of the kidnappers.
“I think we got most of the guys back, not all of them,” the governor said. From the security circles it was said that the exact number of the released students could only be given when they had reached the capital of the same name in the state of Katsina and had been counted. It was also unclear the exact number of people abducted from the high school in Kankara last Friday. According to the authorities, there were 333, the locals spoke of more than 500 people kidnapped.
The now released students were abandoned in the forest after negotiations between the kidnappers and the government. They must first receive medical attention before being returned to their families. Head of State Muhammadu Buhari spoke on the Twitter online service of “enormous relief for the entire country and the world community.”
Boko Haram has been fighting violently for the establishment of an Islamic state of God in the predominantly Muslim northeast of Nigeria since 2009. The jihadist group has committed numerous atrocities in recent weeks.
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