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30 Kidnapped Nigerian Students Released After 7 Months, Official Says

In recent years, the West African nation has seen a wave of mass abductions of schoolchildren, beginning with a Boko Haram attack in 2014.

Thirty Nigerian students held in captivity for almost seven months have been released, according to a government official. The students are the latest to be freed out of dozens abducted from the state of Kebbi in June when gunmen entered the Federal Government College, killed a police officer, and took the students into forests nearby. The abducted students and a teacher reportedly arrived at the state capitol on Saturday, though the Kebbi governor’s office has not released further details. It is common in Nigeria for kidnapped students to be returned home after a ransom has been met. The Boko Haram terrorist group carried out a mass abduction of Nigerian schoolchildren in 2014, but the terrifying practice has not abated. Just this year, 10 school abductions have taken place in the country with over 1,400 children kidnapped under similar circumstances, according to the UN.