279 girls kidnapped from school are freed

Hundreds of Nigerian girls abducted last week from a boarding school in the country’s northwest have been released, a state governor said Tuesday, as the West African nation faces a spate of school kidnappings.

The girls, ages 10 and up, will receive a medical checkup before being returned to their parents.

Zamfara Gov. Bello Matawalle said that 279 girls had been freed after being abducted from the Government Girls Junior Secondary School in Jangebe town on Friday. The government last week said 317 had been kidnapped. It was not clear if the higher number was an error or if some girls were still missing.

“Alhamdulillah! (God be praised!) It gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students,” Matawalle tweeted.

Sunday Alamba / Associated Press Some of the students who were abducted by gunmen from the Government Girls Secondary School last week wait for a medical checkup after their release Tuesday in Gasau, Nigeria.