Abducted Nigerian school boys regain freedom

ABUJA - Scores of students kidnapped from a public secondary school in Nigeria's northwestern state of Katsina have regained their freedom, multiple government officials confirmed Thursday night.

The boys were freed Thursday night in the town of Tsafe, about 82 km from Kankara town where they were kidnapped at the Government Science Secondary School (GSSS) on December 11, Ibrahim Katsina, a special adviser to the Katsina government, told Xinhua.

Also speaking to Xinhua, Abdul Labaran, spokesman for the Katsina government, said the freed students were being transported from the bush where the bandits released them to the Government House in Katsina city, the state capital.

A statement by Mustapha Mohammed Inuwa, the secretary to the state government, said Aminu Masari, the governor of Katsina, would receive the students upon arrival at the Government House.

A group of gunmen riding on motorcycles attacked the GSSS in Kankara on the night of Dec. 11 and more than 300 students were declared missing by the Nigerian authorities.

Terror group Boko Haram claimed on Tuesday that it was responsible for the attack, but the Nigerian military and the Katsina government had refuted the claim.

Masari said earlier in the week that the government was already in touch with the abductors and was negotiating the release of the abducted boys.