Nigerian authorities said on Sunday they had secured the release of around 100 students who were kidnapped last month from a Catholic boarding school in Niger state, northern Nigeria.

Local broadcaster Channels Television reported that the children were freed after several weeks in captivity by armed attackers who raided St. Mary’s Catholic School in the town of Babiri on November 21. The incident has once again brought the issue of insecurity and repeated student kidnappings to the forefront of public debate in Nigeria.