Nigeria: 344 Schoolboys Freed Days after Being Abducted  

Hundreds of schoolboys who were abducted by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria last week have been freed, officials said. But it's unclear whether others are still under captive.

After being released to Nigerian security forces in the forests of Zamfara state, 344 boys were sent safely home to neighboring Katsina state, where they will undergo medical examinations before being reunited with their families, according to Katsina state Gov. Aminu Bello Masari.

At the moment, 344 of the students have been handed over to security agents," Masari announced Thursday night on Nigeria's state broadcaster that he thinks security forces have recovered most of the boys if not all of them.

Masari added that no ransom was paid and that the children's freedom was secured through negotiations.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari commended what he called the "spirit of partnership and the collaborative efforts of the government of Katsina, Zamfara and military leading to the release."

"The Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, and the army worked extremely hard," Buhari said in a statement late Thursday.

The children are among more than 800 students enrolled at Government Science Secondary School, an all-boys boarding school in the rural town of Kankara in Katsina state.

Gunmen stormed the school grounds in the middle of the night on Dec. 11 and kidnapped hundreds of students.

Nigerian authorities blamed the raid on a group of local "bandits," but jihadist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attack on Tuesday.

A poorly filmed video released Thursday that bore Boko Haram's logo allegedly showed some of the abducted schoolboys under trees.

In the clip, one of the boys, who appears visibly distressed, speaks to the camera and pleads with the Nigerian government to answer the demands of their captors.

He said some of his classmates were killed.

A voice in the video claiming to be Abubakar Shekau, a leader of one of Boko Haram's factions, was saying his group carried out the raid on the school because they believe Western education is "un-Islamic.