Huge relief as Boko Haram releases 344 abducted boys independent.ie - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from independent.ie Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Unclear why the government was able to secure their release and how many are still in captivity
18 December 2020 • 2:24pm
Rescued Nigerian school boys sit together at the Government house in Katsina, Nigeria, December 18, 2020.
Credit: REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/ REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
There was joy and relief in Nigeria on Friday after hundreds of schoolboys believed to have been abducted by bandits working for the terrorist group Boko Haram were released.
In a video posted on social media the boys could be seen cheering together in the back of a truck after they had just been freed on Thursday, while photos showed some waving out of a bus window at passersby.
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Several hundred schoolboys abducted in northwestern Nigeria have been freed, according to local officials. The Nigerian military rescued 344 of the kidnapped children Thursday evening, and the boys were received by the Katsina state governor Aminu Bello Masari at the state capital. His spokesman said that Boko Haram was not involved, but that “bandits” pretending to be in the Islamist terror group were responsible a claim that has yet to be verified.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari tweeted that the return of the boys was “a huge relief to the entire country & international community.” He also asked citizens to let the government do its job, as many Nigerians have become more critical about the country’s worsening security problems.