(Refiles to fix story links in paragraph 3)
By Ahmed Kingimi
ABUJA, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s government has rescued 100 schoolchildren who were abducted last month from St. Mary’s Catholic School in central Nigeria, a spokesperson of the Christian Association of Nigeria said on Monday.
Daniel Atori, a CAN spokesperson in Niger state, said the rescue was confirmed by government officials on Monday morning, without providing further details. Nigerian government officials have yet to comment publicly on the rescue.
More than 300 children and 12 school staff were kidnapped on November 21 by gunmen at the Catholic boarding school in Papiri, a hamlet in Niger state. Fifty pupils escaped in the following hours, but until Monday there had been no update on the whereabouts or condition of the other children, some as young as 6, and the missing school staff.
(Reporting by Ahmed Kingimi in Maiduguri; Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by Toby Chopra and Hugh Lawson)
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