Authorities: Nearly 70 students freed in northern Nigeria

Nearly 70 students who were abducted from their school in northern Nigeria have regained their freedom after two weeks in captivity, Zamfara state Governor Bello Matawalle said Monday.

The students from the Government Day Secondary School were rescued with the help of some of the gunmen who had repented, he said. They were reunited with their families late Sunday.

Heavily armed men had descended on the school on September 1, the latest attack in a wave of school kidnappings in northern Nigeria that prompted the government to shut down all primary and secondary schools in Zamfara state.

Police have said that 73 students were abducted and that five were rescued a day later.