Students abducted from Nigerian school 2 weeks ago freed

LAGOS, Nigeria — Students, teachers and relatives abducted two weeks ago from a school in northern Nigeria have been freed.

The students, teachers and family members were abducted Feb. 17 by gunmen from the Government Science College Kagara.

Niger State Gov. Abubakar Sani Bello said he received 24 students, six staff and eight relatives on Saturday after they were released early in the morning.

This number released differed from the 42 people that the governor had originally said were kidnapped by the attackers, indicating some may still be missing. The discrepancy was not explained.

One of the students has been hospitalized for excessive exhaustion, he said, adding that the released will be medically checked and monitored for a few days before being reunited with family.

Sani Bello said that joint efforts of security, traditional leaders and stakeholders helped secure the release.

Their release was announced a day after police said gunmen had abducted 317 girls from a boarding school elsewhere in northern Nigeria, in Zamfara state. Several large groups of armed men operate in Zamfara state, described by the government as bandits, and are known to kidnap for money and to push for the release of their members from jail.

Masauda Umar, 20, managed to escape from the school when the men arrived Friday.

She told The Associated Press the bandits came to their sleeping quarters and after knocking on the main door, they hit the people who answered it and made everyone gather.