Abducted students of Government Science College Kagara arrive at the state house after being freed in Minna, Niger State, central Nigeria, on February 27, 2021. Photo: VCG

All 279 Nigerian students kidnapped from their boarding school in the northern state of Zamfara have been released and are on government premises, the governor of the state told AFP Tuesday.

"I am happy to announce that the girls are free," Dr Bello Matawalle told an AFP journalist. "They have just arrived in the government house and are in good health."

An AFP reporter saw hundreds of girls wearing hijabs, gathered at the government premises.

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 Matawalle said the "total number of female students abducted" was 279. "We thank Allah they are all now with us."

Government officials had been in talks with the kidnappers - known as bandits - following Nigeria's third school attack in less than three months.

A source said "repentant bandits" had been contacted to reach out to their former comrades as part of efforts to free the students.

Heavily-armed criminal gangs in northwest and central Nigeria have stepped up attacks in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, raping and pillaging. 

The Nigerian military deployed to the area in 2016 and a peace deal with bandits was signed in 2019 but attacks have continued.

In December, more than 300 boys were kidnapped from a school in Kankara, in President Muhammadu Buhari's home state of Katsina. They were later released.

AFP