All 279 kidnapped Nigerian students released: governor

All 279 girls kidnapped from their boarding school in northern Nigeria have been released and are on government premises, the local governor told AFP yesterday. Authorities initially said 317 girls were abducted in the raid by hundreds of gunmen on the Government Girls Secondary School in remote Jangebe village on Friday. But the governor said the "total number of female students abducted" was 279. Heavily armed criminal gangs in northwest and central Nigeria have stepped up attacks in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, raping and pillaging.