The 279 girls were abducted on Friday by gunmen who raided their state school in the northwestern state of Zamfara, Nigeria, a senior government official with knowledge of the incident told CNN.
Yusuf Idris, a spokesman for the regional governor, said on Tuesday that the girls had returned safely and that they were all accounted for. He made no comment when asked if a ransom had been paid for their release.
The kidnapping of the girls is the latest in a series of similar kidnapping cases in Nigeria. Last month, at least 42 people were kidnapped from a state school and later released, and more than 300 schoolboys were taken and later released in December.
These incidents have raised questions about the safety of schools in parts of Northern Nigeria.
In a statement released on social media on Friday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the girls’ kidnapping was “inhumane and totally unacceptable”.
“This government will not succumb to blackmail by bandits targeting innocent school students in the expectation of massive ransom payments,” Buhari said in the statement posted by his official spokesman.