No ransom paid for release of Nigerian schoolgirls: minister

ABUJA (Reuters) - No ransom was paid for the release of scores of Nigerian schoolgirls by Islamist militants on Wednesday, Nigeria's information minister said. "No ransom was paid to them to effect this release. The only condition they gave us is not to release (the girls) to the military but release them in the town of Dapchi without the military presence," Information Minister Lai Mohammed told Reuters in Abuja. Boko Haram insurgents freed the students in the northeastern town of Dapchi, from where 110 girls were taken on Feb. 19 in the biggest mass abduction since Chibok in 2014, witnesses told Reuters. Some of the released students said five of their friends had died in captivity and another was still being held. (Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editijng by Andrew Heavens)