Nigerian Governor Says 279 Kidnapped Schoolgirls Are Freed

Some of the students who were abducted by gunmen from the Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe last week, wait for a medical checkup after their release in Gusau, northern Nigeria, on March 2, 2021. Sunday Alamba/AP Photo

GUSAU, Nigeria—Hundreds of Nigerian girls abducted last week from a boarding school in the country’s northwest have been released, a state governor said Tuesday, as the West African nation faces a spate of school kidnappings.

The girls, ages 10 and up, dressed in light blue hijabs and barefoot, packed into Zamfara state’s Government House conference room. They appeared calm, chatting to one another as they sat in long rows while journalists photographed them. They will receive a medical checkup before being returned to their parents.