Militants free 15 pupils in Nigeria

Minna (Nigeria), August 27

Gunmen have released 15 students abducted from their school in Nigeria’s north, the police said Friday. It was the second group of students freed by their kidnappers in the West African nation in the last 24 hours.

Police spokesperson in Zamfara State Mohammed Shehu said authorities received the students on Friday, 11 days after they were abducted from the College of Agriculture and Animal Science in the troubled northwest. It was not immediately clear how they were rescued, but the students are now being attended to at the State Government House and will soon be reunited with their parents, authorities said.

Overjoyed families awaited reunions Friday with 90 young children who had been held captive by gunmen for three months in northern Nigeria as the state’s governor vowed to pursue the kidnappers. One of the children taken in May died during the ordeal and four others are receiving medical treatment, officials said. — AP