Freed Nigerian students taken to Kaduna after abduction
STORY: After more than two weeks held as hostages, these Nigerian school children are now free.
They were brought to a local government building in the northwestern Kaduna state on Monday (March 25) - the day after being rescued by the army in neighboring Zamfara.
That was also just days before a deadline to pay a one billion naira, or $690,000, ransom for their release.
136 hostages had been freed, a military spokesperson said on Sunday (March 24), 76 of them female and 61 male.
The army also said one school staff member had died in captivity.
School officials and residents had said 287 students were abducted by gunmen on March 7 in the town of Kuriga.
It was the first mass school abduction in Nigeria since 2021.
On Sunday, Kaduna governor Uba Sani put the number kidnapped at over 200.
Given the discrepancy in numbers it was not clear if any hostages remained captured.
Some Kuriga elders said Sani had told them all hostages had been freed.
Abductions at Nigerian schools were first carried out by jihadist group Boko Haram.
However, they have since been adopted by criminal gangs, without ideological affiliation, seeking ransoms.
Information minister Mohammed Idris told a press briefing in Abuja that no ransom was paid to secure the students' release.
However, one security source, who asked not to be named, said he saw 14 black bags, which he assumed contained ransom money, being delivered to the Dansadau enclave in Zamfara State.
