Students, teachers and family members abducted from a school in northern Nigeria two weeks ago have been released.
The students, teachers and family members were abducted on February 17 by gunmen from Government Science College Kagara.
Niger Governor Abubakar Sani Bello said he received 24 students, six staff and eight family members on Saturday after they were released early in the morning.
The number released differs from the 42 people the governor originally abducted by the attackers, indicating that some are still missing. The difference was not explained.
One of the students was admitted to the hospital due to excessive exhaustion, he said, saying the released would be medically checked and monitored for several days before being reunited with the family.
Sani Bello said joint efforts by security, traditional leaders and stakeholders helped secure the release.
Their release was announced a day after police said gunmen abducted 317 girls from a boarding school elsewhere in northern Nigeria, in the state of Zamfara. One resident said the gunmen also attacked a nearby military camp and checkpoint, preventing soldiers from interfering in the mass abduction.
Several large groups of armed men work in the country of Zamfara, which is described by the government as bandits.
Masauda Umar, 20, managed to escape from the school when the men arrived there on Friday.
She told The Associated Press the bandits came to their sleeping place and after knocking on the front door, they beat the people who answered it and made everyone gather.
“I came out the door and met someone, but ran back and hid under my bed,” she said. “I’m afraid to go back to school because of what happened really scared me, but I’ll go back if the government tackles uncertainty.”
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday that the government’s primary goal is to get all school hostages back safely, alive and unharmed.
“We will not succumb to blacks by bandits and criminals targeting innocent schoolchildren in anticipation of large ransom payments,” he said. “Do not let bandits, kidnappers and terrorists create the illusion that they are more powerful than the government.”
Nigeria has seen several such attacks and kidnappings over the years, most notably the mass abduction in April 2014 by the jihadist group Boko Haram of 276 girls from Chibok High School in the state of Borno. More than a hundred of the girls are still missing.
In December, 344 students from Kankara Government Science Secondary School in Katsina State were abducted. They were eventually released.