The students were taken by gunmen who entered their boarding school in Jangebe, Zamfara state, which is in the northwestern part of the country Friday and taken to a forest, police said, according to BBC.
Local officials say a group of 300 schoolgirls who were kidnapped last week by gunmen in Nigeria have been released, according to the BBC.
The students were taken by gunmen who entered their boarding school in Jangebe, Zamfara state, which is in the northwestern part of the country Friday and taken to a forest, police said, according to BBC.
On Tuesday morning, state officials said the girls were free and are safe.
"It gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students... from captivity," Governor Bello Matawalle wrote on Twitter. "This follows the scaling of several hurdles laid against our efforts. I enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to rejoice with us as our daughters are now safe."
The release of the 300 schoolgirls comes as 42 students, teachers and family who were abducted by gunmen almost two weeks ago from the Government Science College Kagara in Nigeria and were released Saturday.
Government officials met them at the capital of Niger state, according to CNN.
"I'm happy to announce the rescue of the 38 abducted Science Secondary School Kagara students. They were rescued early this morning, at about 4am,” Niger Governor Abubakar Sani Bello said in a statement.
One student was hospitalized suffering from exhaustion, and the government said it was monitoring the condition of the rest of the people rescued, Niger Governor Abubakar Sani Bello said.
"They have been through tremendous torture so this is a really brief meeting. We are carefully watching their health and their condition, and hopefully they should be reunited back soon with their families,” Abubakar Sani Bello said.
Several large groups of armed men operate in Zamfara state, described by the government as bandits, and are known to kidnap for money and to push for the release of their members from jail.
Nigeria has seen several such attacks and kidnappings over the years, notably the mass abduction in April 2014 by Jihadist group Boko Haram of 276 girls from the secondary school in Chibok in Borno State. More than a hundred of the girls are still missing.
In December, 344 students were abducted from the government science secondary school Kankara in Katsina State, who were eventually released.
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