100 kidnapped Nigerian schoolchildren released: UN source
The released children are set to be handed over to local government officials in Niger state, UN source says.
Nigerian authorities have secured the release of 100 kidnapped schoolchildren taken by gunmen from a Catholic school last month, a UN source and local media said Sunday, though the fate of another 165 students and staff thought to remain in captivity remains unclear.
In November 315 students and staff were kidnapped from St Mary's co-educational boarding school in north-central Niger state, as the country buckled under a wave of mass abductions reminiscent of the infamous 2014 Boko Haram abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok.
Some 50 escaped shortly afterwards, leaving 265 thought to be in captivity.
The 100 children are set to be handed over to local government officials in Niger state on Monday, according to the United Nations source.
"They are going to be handed over to Niger state government tomorrow," the source said.
Local media also reported that the release of 100 children had been secured, without offering details on whether it was done through negotiation or military force, nor on the fate on the remaining students and staff thought to still be in the kidnappers' hands.
The freeing of the 100 children was confirmed by presidential spokesman Sunday Dare.
"We have been praying and waiting for their return, if it is true then it is a cheering news," said Daniel Atori, spokesman for Bishop Bulus Yohanna of the Kontagora diocese which runs the school.
"However, we are not officially aware and have not been duly notified by the federal government."
Though kidnappings for ransom are common in the country as a way for criminals and armed groups to make quick cash, a spate of mass abductions in November saw hundreds taken and put an uncomfortable spotlight on Nigeria's already grim security situation.
The country faces a long-running militancy in the northeast, while armed "bandit" gangs conduct kidnappings and loot villages in the northwest, and farmers and herders clash in the country's centre over dwindling land and resources.
On a smaller scale, armed groups linked to separatist movements also haunt the country's restive southeast.