Tons of of schoolboys kidnapped final week from a boarding faculty in north-western Nigeria have been launched, native authorities have advised the BBC.
A spokesman for the governor of Katsina state mentioned 344 had been freed and had been all in situation.
Nevertheless, different experiences counsel some stay within the palms of their captors.
The assault was claimed by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which hours earlier launched a video apparently displaying a number of the boys.
In his assertion, the spokesman, Abdul Labaran, mentioned the boys had been being taken to the regional capital Katsina Metropolis, and would quickly be reunited with their households.
He mentioned the clip launched by Boko Haram was genuine, however a message seemingly from the group’s chief Abubakar Shekau was, as an alternative, by an impersonator.
The authorities have beforehand given a decrease determine than locals for the quantity kidnapped and it’s unclear if all are actually protected.
The state Governor Aminu Bello Masari was quoted by Reuters information company as saying, “we have now recovered a lot of the boys. It isn’t all of them,” whereas a safety supply advised the AFP information company some remained with their captors.
Mr Labaran mentioned not one of the kidnapped boys had been killed, contradicting a boy proven within the video who mentioned some had been killed by Nigerian fighter jets.
It’s unclear how the boys’ launch happened however the information was confirmed to BBC Hausa by one other state authorities official.
What occurred in the course of the assault?
Witnesses mentioned armed males got here to the varsity in Kankara city on Friday night final week, and lots of college students jumped the varsity fence and fled once they heard gunshots.
Others had been tracked by the gunmen, who tricked them into believing that they had been safety personnel, college students who escaped mentioned. As soon as the scholars had been rounded up they had been marched into the close by forest by the armed males.
picture copyrightReuters
On Thursday, video was launched bearing Boko Haram’s emblem, displaying dozens of boys, a few of whom seem like very younger.
One the boys mentioned they had been kidnapped by Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau’s gang and that each one the federal government troops who had been despatched to assist them must be flip again.
What is the wider image?
Boko Haram has been infamous over the past decade for college kidnappings, together with in Chibok in 2014, when almost 300 schoolgirls had been seized. Its identify loosely interprets as “Western training is forbidden”.
Nevertheless, these abductions have till now taken place within the north-east, the place Boko Haram relies.
Regardless of Boko Haram’s declare, the Nigerian authorities mentioned it was carried out by native gangs related to the Islamist group.
Armed assaults and kidnappings are rife in north-western Nigeria and are sometimes blamed on bandits, a free time period for gangs working within the space.
Amnesty Worldwide says greater than 1,100 folks had been killed by bandits within the first six months of this yr, with the federal government failing to convey the attackers to justice.
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