More than 300 schoolboys have been reunited with their families, a week after they were kidnapped from their school in north-west Nigeria.
The boys arrived in the state capital Katsina by bus. Reporters said they looked tired and weary but otherwise well.
Some were still wearing their school uniforms, while others clutched grey blankets.
The 11 December attack on the school in Kankara town was claimed by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. It remains unclear if all those captured have now been released.
Katsina Governor Aminu Bello Masari said on Thursday that 344 children had been turned over to security officials.
“I think we can say … we have recovered most of the boys, if not all of them,” he told the Associated Press.
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The boys were flanked by armed police as they walked in single file from the buses to a government building to meet the governor. They were also due to undergo medical checks.
One boy told a TV station that the group had been fed bread and cassava during their captivity and said it had been cold. He said was “really happy” to be back in Katsina.
Parents were overjoyed to be reunited with their sons. “I couldn’t believe what I heard until neighbours came to inform me that it’s true,” Hafsat Funtua, whose son is 16, told Reuters news agency.
How was the boys’ release secured?
The government insists no ransom was paid but that the boys were released after negotiations with the kidnappers. Although Islamist militant group Boko Haram said it was behind the kidnapping, this has been denied by Nigerian officials.
