GUSAU, Nigeria — The governor of Nigeria's northwestern Zamfara state says that 279 schoolgirls abducted last week from a boarding school have been released.

Gunmen abducted the girls from the Government Girls Junior Secondary School in Jangebe town on Friday, in the latest in a series of mass kidnappings of students in the West African nation.

An Associated Press reporter saw hundreds of girls dressed in light blue uniforms sitting at the Government House office in Gusau. After the meeting, the girls were escorted outside by officials and lined up to be taken away in vans.

They appeared calm and ranged in ages from 10 and up.

Zamfara state governor Bello Matawalle said they would be taken for medical examinations before being reunited with their families.