More than 300 students abducted in Nigeria have been released

Kankara, Nigeria – More than 300 students abducted last week by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria have been released, state governor Katsina said on Thursday.

Governor Aminu Bell Masari made the announcement on Nigerian state television, NTA, from his office.

“So far 344 of the students have been released and handed over to the security operators. I think in the end we can say that we have recovered most of the boys, if not all of them,” he said. Arrangements are being made to transport them to Katsina, he added.

The students were abducted last Friday at the Government Science High School in Kankara. According to witnesses, men armed with AK-47 rifles abducted more than 300 students. The abduction, claimed by the extremist group Boko Haram, has sparked protests in the African nation against the government for not doing enough to stop attacks on schools.

In response to the kidnappings, Nigeria launched a rescue operation in which police, air force and army tracked down the kidnappers to their hideout in the Zango / Paula forest.

The school had more than 800 students.

To prevent further school kidnappings, Katsina state closed all its boarding schools. The nearby states of Zamfara, Jigiwa and Kano have also closed schools as a precautionary measure.

Boko Haram has abducted schoolchildren because it believes Western education is not Islamic, rebel leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video attributing responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

In April 2014, the Islamist group abducted more than 270 girls from a school in Chibok, and about 100 are still missing.