Nigeria: 344 boys released have been reunited with their parents

Exhausted, sometimes in tears, more than 300 boys kidnapped by armed men in northern Nigeria, found their parents on Friday, December 18.

This attack, which revived the memory of the kidnapping by Boko Haram of more than 200 young girls in Chibok in 2014. KOLA SULAIMON / AFP

They were among hundreds of middle and high school students kidnapped on the evening of December 11 by armed men from Kankara State Boys' High School.

This mass abduction was then claimed by the jihadist group Boko Haram, usually active in the northeast of the country, hundreds of kilometers further east.

Arrived Friday morning by bus and truck at the governor's residence in Katsina state, the children walked barefoot to a reception hall, where many officials were waiting, including Governor Aminu Bello Masari.

"

I'm happy, very happy to know that I'm going to see my father, my mother and my little brothers again,

" said a 14-year-old, looking exhausted.

It was not until early evening that they were able to reunite with their families, waiting for many of them outside the official district of Katsina town.

"

I cried when I saw him,

" Hajia Bilikis, the mother of 15-year-old Abdullahi Abdu-Rasaq, told AFP.

The abducted boys are at the Kankara State Boys' High School.

AFOLABI SOTUNDE / REUTERS

"

You suffered physically, mentally, psychologically

", declared the governor, assuring that for him also this period had been painful.

The authorities gave the boys clothes and President Muhammadu Buhari, originally from Katsina state and who was in the area this week on a "

personal stay

", paid them a short visit to the governor's office, speaking to them in local Hausa language.

The joy was great for the parents who found their children.

AFOLABI SOTUNDE / REUTERS

On Thursday, the jihadists of Boko Haram had released a video of dozens of students allegedly kidnapped.

His face covered with dust and scratched, a young boy explained that he was one of 520 students kidnapped by "

the Shekau gang

", named after the historic leader of Boko Haram.

In this video, Boko Haram claimed, through the voice of this boy of about 14, that some had been killed.

It was not immediately possible to know whether the children in the video were the ones who were released or how many of them possibly remained in the hands of their captors.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for “

the immediate and unconditional release

” of the children still detained.

According to information gathered by AFP, this mass kidnapping was coordinated by the gang leader Awwalun Daudawa in collaboration with two other renowned bandits, Idi Minoriti and Dankarami, armed groups which terrorize the populations in northwestern Nigeria, and commit kidnappings for ransom and cattle rustling.

According to several testimonies from young boys who managed to escape, the hostages were divided into several groups on the evening of their kidnapping.

3 dead in suicide bombing by teenage girl

Three people were killed and two seriously injured on Friday evening in a suicide bombing by a teenage girl in northeast Nigeria.

The suicide bomber, who is said to be around 17, activated her explosives in the middle of a group of men gathered near the home of a local chief.