Nigeria rescues recently abducted schoolgirls

Nigerian officials said they rescued dozens of schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram militants earlier this week in the country’s northeast. The school kidnapping was the largest since Boko Haram drew international attention for abducting more than 200 girls from a boarding school in the town of Chibok nearly four years ago. Witnesses said armed Boko Haram militants on Monday stormed the village of Dapchi in Yobe state. Many villagers, including students of a government girls secondary school, fled into the bushes for shelter. In a statement released Wednesday, state spokesman Abdullahi Bego said more than 50 of the school’s 926 students were missing following the attack. In a Wednesday evening update, Bego confirmed the girls’ release, saying, “The rescued girls are now in the custody of the Nigerian Army.” It remains unclear how many of the girls were rescued. Bego said the state would release more information later about the number of rescued girls and their condition.