FILE – Parents await information concerning the kidnapped LEA Primary and Secondary School Kuriga college students in Kuriga, Kaduna, Nigeria, on March 9, 2024. Nearly 300 schoolchildren kidnapped from their college in northwest Nigeria’s Kaduna state have been launched, the state governor mentioned Sunday, March 24, greater than two weeks after the youngsters had been seized from their college.

Sunday Alamba/AP

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Sunday Alamba/AP

FILE – Parents await information concerning the kidnapped LEA Primary and Secondary School Kuriga college students in Kuriga, Kaduna, Nigeria, on March 9, 2024. Nearly 300 schoolchildren kidnapped from their college in northwest Nigeria’s Kaduna state have been launched, the state governor mentioned Sunday, March 24, greater than two weeks after the youngsters had been seized from their college.

Sunday Alamba/AP

ABUJA, Nigeria — Nearly 300 kidnapped Nigerian schoolchildren have been launched, native officers mentioned Sunday, greater than two weeks after the youngsters had been seized from their college within the northwestern state of Kaduna and marched into the forests.

At least 1,400 college students have been kidnapped from Nigerian faculties since 2014, when Boko Haram militants kidnapped a whole lot of schoolgirls from Borno state’s Chibok village in 2014. In latest years, abductions have been concentrated within the nation’s northwestern and central areas, the place dozens of armed teams typically goal villagers and vacationers for ransom.

Kaduna state Gov. Uba Sani didn’t give particulars of the discharge of the 287 college students kidnapped from their college within the distant city of Kuriga on March 7, a minimum of 100 of them aged 12 or youthful. In an announcement, he thanked Nigerian President Bola Tinubu “particularly ensuring that the abducted school children are released unharmed.”

Tinubu had vowed to rescue the youngsters “without paying a dime” as ransom. But ransoms are generally paid for kidnappings, typically organized by households, and it’s uncommon for officers in Nigeria to confess to the funds.

No group has claimed duty for the Kaduna kidnapping, which locals have blamed on bandit teams recognized for mass killings and kidnappings for ransom within the conflict-battered northern area, most of them former herders in battle with settled communities.

At least two folks with in depth information of the safety disaster in Nigeria’s northwest informed The Associated Press that the identification of the abductors is understood.

Murtala Ahmed Rufa’i, a professor of peace and battle research at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, and Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a cleric who has negotiated with the bandits, mentioned they’re hiding within the area’s huge and ungoverned forests.

Arrests are uncommon in Nigeria’s mass kidnappings, as victims are normally launched solely after determined households pay ransoms or by means of offers with authorities and safety officers.

The Kaduna governor thanked Nigerian safety forces and officers for the discharge of the scholars. “I spent sleepless nights with the National Security Adviser, Mal. Nuhu Ribadu … fine-tuning strategies and coordinating the operations of the security agencies, which eventually resulted in this successful outcome,” he mentioned.