Nigeria secures release of 100 abducted schoolchildren
In this screengrab from a video, released schoolgirls wearing blue hijabs pose for photos with their parents and government officals after the girls were freed from captivity in Kebbi, Nigeria, Nov. 26, 2025. (Reuters Photo)


Nigeria’s government has secured the release of 100 students kidnapped last month in Niger state, one of the country’s largest mass abductions, according to a report Sunday by local broadcaster Channels Television.

The Christian Association of Nigeria has said 303 children and 12 school staff were kidnapped on Nov. 21 by gunmen at St Mary's Catholic boarding school in Papiri, a hamlet in Niger state.

Fifty pupils managed to escape in the following hours, but since then there had been no update on the whereabouts or conditions of the other children, some as young as six, and the missing school staff.

Channels Television did not immediately provide details about the release.

The school attack put a spotlight on the persistent insecurity in Nigeria more than 10 years after the Chibok abductions, at a time when the country is under scrutiny from U.S. President Donald Trump over its alleged ill-treatment of Christians.