1st LD-Writethru: Nigeria says majority of Dapchi schoolgirls released

ABUJA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of schoolgirls who were released on Wednesday by terror group Boko Haram after their abduction last month in the northeastern town of Dapchi has increased from 76 to 101, the Nigerian government said.

Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed gave the update in a statement, saying the number could still increase as security agencies had commenced the profiling of the freed schoolgirls.

A total of 110 schoolgirls were abducted from an all-girl college in Dapchi on Feb. 19.

The government had earlier confirmed that 76 of them were released early Wednesday.

Authorities said no ransom was paid to secure the release of schoolgirls.

The girls released by terror group Boko Haram were dropped off in Dapchi town at 3 a.m. on Wednesday, and not handed over to anyone.

Mohammed said they were released "through back-channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country."

For the release to work, the government had a clear understanding that violence and confrontation would not be the way out, he explained.

The official said during negotiation, the Boko Haram group had insisted on returning the girls to where they were abducted from.

A jubilant crowd welcomed the girls to Dapchi town on Wednesday, according to witnesses.

Local residents of Dapchi said some people suspected to be Boko Haram fighters brought back the girls to the town in trucks, the same way they were abducted from their dormitories at the Government Girls Science and Technical College on Feb. 19.

"Everyone fled for safety when the news about suspected Boko Haram's invasion got to us. But it was soon realized that the people who brought the girls were carrying no guns," said Mallam Adamu, a resident.

Last Wednesday, Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari visited Dapchi, located 100 kilometers from Damaturu, capital of the northern Yobe State, to sympathize with parents of the girls and assure them that girls would return soon.

Buhari had said the government would bring back the girls through negotiation and not by force.

The tragedy of their abduction had brought back memories of a similar occurrence four years ago in Africa's most populous country when more than 200 schoolgirls, also from an all-girl college, were abducted by Boko Haram in the northeastern town of Chibok.

Only 107 of the Chibok girls have been rescued or returned amid ongoing government negotiation with Boko Haram.

The United Nations believes Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 innocent people since 2009 through terror attacks.

In a statement on Wednesday, Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesperson for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), also said the federal government was committed to securing the release of the remaining Chibok girls still held in captivity by Boko Haram.

He expressed confidence that the reforms the government had embarked on would improve the capacity of security agencies to prevent the kidnap of children by terrorists.

Meanwhile, a government delegation is reportedly on their way to Maiduguri to meet with the freed girls. Enditem