Militants in Nigeria have released a number of students kidnapped from an Islamic school in May, according to the school’s principal.
Gunmen kidnapped about 136 students from the school in Tigina, Niger state, demanding ransom.
School officials say 15 students escaped in June and another six died while in captivity.
Mass kidnappings for ransom have become increasingly common across Nigeria in recent months.
Abu Bakr al-Hassan, the school’s principal, said he could not give an exact figure for the number of students who had been released, but that “none of the students are in captivity.”
He told AFP that the students were taken home.
It is not yet clear how the disciples were released.
Fati Abdullah, whose 18-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son were kidnapped by the group, said her children have been released.
“We can’t wait to see them,” she said.
On May 30, armed men on motorbikes stormed the town and opened fire, killing one person and wounding another.
As people fled, the attackers went to school and took the children.
In July, the kidnappers kidnapped a man sent to pay a ransom to secure the students’ release. Parents and school officials sold their property and part of the school’s land to pay the ransom. But they later said the payment was not enough.
More than 1,000 students have been kidnapped from schools across northern Nigeria since December last year.
Authorities there have been criticized for failing to address widespread insecurity in the country, including the worsening kidnapping crisis.
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