Parents in Nigeria have been reunited with 100 students who were abducted last month when gunmen stormed their school.
More than 300 students and staff were kidnapped from St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, in northern Nigeria, on 21 November, just days after 25 students were also taken in nearby Kebbi state.
Details have not been released about the fate of at least 150 other children and staff, who remain in captivity.
Fifty of the students escaped in the hours following the abductions, reported the Associated Press (AP).
No group has claimed responsibility for the abductions, which were the latest in a string of similar incidents to have rocked Nigeria in the past decade.
The freed students have received medical checks, Niger state officials said.
Freed students are reunited with their families. Pic: AP
Reverend Sister Felicia Gyang, the principal of the school, thanked the security agencies for the “rescue of our children”, adding: “We are pleading that God should give them more strength to be able to rescue the remaining children.”
Pic: AP
Luka Illaya’s son was one of the children rescued, but still has another being held by the kidnappers.
He said: “It has not been easy for me. But today, in fact, I have a little bit of joy, especially because there is still one abducted.
“But I am now happy with this one that I have gotten.”
Pic: AP
Experts said children are a target for armed groups seeking a high ransom from the government and communities.
Such abductions have often commanded national and international attention, with the Pope last month calling for the release of the Papiri students in a Sunday address from the Vatican.
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Since 2014, when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls, there have been at least a dozen mass school abductions with at least 1,799 students kidnapped, according to analysis by AP.
