The 279 girls were abducted on Friday by gunmen who stormed their state-run school in northern Zamfara state, Nigeria, a senior government official told CNN.
Yusuf Idris, a spokesman for the regional governor, said on Tuesday that the girls had been returned safely and that everyone was responsible. He did not comment on whether a ransom would be paid for its release.
The kidnapping of the girls is the latest in a series of similar kidnapping cases in Nigeria. At least 42 people were abducted from a state-run school last month and later released, and more than 300 schoolboys were taken in December and later released.
These incidents have raised questions about the safety of schools in parts of northern Nigeria.
In a statement released on social media on Friday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the abduction of the girls was “inhuman and totally unacceptable.”
“This administration will not succumb to blacks by bandits targeting innocent schoolchildren in the expectation of large ransom payments,” Buhari said in a statement posted by his official spokesman.